Smoke and Fire [GL] - Chapter 17

Luo Yao snapped her eyes open.

Above her were the carved beams and painted rafters of the house. The bright light of the candles filtered in faintly from outside the window; it seemed to be the room where they had all slept together last night.

“Oh my goodness, she’s finally awake!” Si Yin’s voice exploded beside her, completely jarring.

Hearing this, a few people immediately crowded over, and several fuzzy heads suddenly appeared in Luo Yao’s field of vision.

Luo Yao: “…How long was I unconscious?”

“Subjectively, less than an hour, maybe.” Si Yin first said calmly, then after three seconds of silence, she started breaking down: “But do you know what happened in that hour?! No, no, don’t answer, let me tell you. First, you fainted. I alone moved you, Yi An, and that other one whose name I don’t know, all to the corridor—and then do you know what happened?!”

Luo Yao looked at her, showing no intention of speaking.

“…” Si Yin couldn’t save face, her expression completely deadpan, “Would it kill you to answer me with a single sentence?”

Luo Yao said innocently, “‘No, no, don’t answer, let me tell you.’ You said that.”

Si Yin: “…Anyway, after the vengeful spirit disappeared with you, the entire Shen residence experienced a huge leap in time. During this time, that piece of trash Shen Junxuan got his Fourth Mistress pregnant. The child’s name is supposedly Shen Nian, and if there are no surprises, the birth is imminent.”

Luo Yao instantly restrained her expression upon hearing this. She sat up and raised her hand, pressing on Si Yin’s forearm: “Where is Shen Junxuan?”

“He should be outside the birthing room…” Si Yin was startled by her expression. She stopped pretending to be angry and quickly helped her up. “Luo Yao, what did that vengeful spirit show you? Is it related to Shen Junxuan?”

Luo Yao shook her head: “No time to explain. Hurry and take me there, otherwise Shen Junxuan will die immediately.”

Yi An instantly showed a look of astonishment. Si Yin and Tan Tan exchanged glances and followed closely behind her without a word.

…

Luo Yao quickly walked all the way to the brightly lit birthing room in the courtyard, reviewing the memories she had just seen in her mind.

Shen Ningrong was the first vengeful spirit produced by the Shen family. Having died with resentment in the heavy snow, she would definitely become a malevolent ghost. The other girls who were “cleansed” after her, being too young, could not develop their own consciousness, and at most, only added strength to her.

This vengeful spirit was, at its core, Little Rong’er herself, at the age of nine.

Although Little Rong’er did not explicitly state her purpose, it was easy to deduce: the people who directly caused her death were her father, who drove her out of the house, and her elder brother, who ordered the servant to beat her to death.

These two correspond to the head of the Shen family in each generation and the boys who were not “cleansed.”

Luo Yao lowered her eyes at this thought.

—Little Rong’er had mentioned earlier that this Fourth Mistress would give birth to a younger brother. If she was the vengeful spirit, she would definitely choose to kill the boy, as well as Shen Junxuan, who also bore the sin, the moment the boy was born.

Regardless of anything else, Shen Junxuan could not die at this moment.

But the facts proved that Little Rong’er timed the opportunity perfectly, making Luo Yao wake up just one step too late—when she abruptly pushed open the door, the midwife was placing a wailing infant in Shen Junxuan’s hands. It was a male infant.

“Let go, don’t take him!!” Luo Yao pushed Shen Junxuan fiercely, ignoring everything else. Her movement was already very fast, but it was still not as fast as Little Rong’er’s action.

The instant Shen Junxuan reached out his hand, a wisp of dense black mist instantly surged out of the midwife’s seven orifices, wrapping around the infant’s neck with lightning speed.

Everything happened in a flash.

The crying infant’s voice stopped abruptly. His round eyes suddenly widened, and Shen Junxuan’s face was reflected perfectly in his pupils. Little Rong’er tightened the opening of the black mist, and the infant’s neck silently slumped to one side.

“Damn it,” Si Yin cursed in a low voice beside her, grabbing the hilt of her heavy sword in mid-air and lunging toward Little Rong’er’s direction.

Luo Yao and Tan Tan supported her from behind, simultaneously yanking Shen Junxuan backward forcefully, positioning themselves between him and the vengeful spirit.

Although Si Yin was the best heavy sword user in the entire Celestial Realm, she was severely restricted in this small space. Coupled with the extremely rapid movement of the vengeful spirit, the two sides were temporarily deadlocked.

“This won’t work,” Luo Yao frowned, seeing Si Yin’s sword miss again. “Si Yin, prepare yourself, lead her out into the courtyard.”

Si Yin clicked her tongue, and her sword blade slashed an arc like a rainbow: “No need for the trouble! She’s only chasing Shen Junxuan; just take Shen Junxuan out!”

“That, I…”

Shen Junxuan’s eyes kept drifting toward the already dead infant on the ground, then he glanced at Luo Yao, his meaning obvious.

Tan Tan frowned and reminded him: “Master Shen, your son is no longer with us.”

“Let him go,” Luo Yao said.

She watched Shen Junxuan hurriedly pick up the dead infant, and just as she was about to look away, she suddenly glimpsed a flash of inauspicious black light around the infant’s body, and her movement instantly froze.

This black light was extremely fleeting. To take a step back, even if someone did see it, no one else or deity would associate it with anything else.

But Luo Yao was different.

She had personally witnessed this scene before. She knew what that was, and she knew what it meant.

—It was Demonic Breath.

A thousand years ago on the Glazed Terrace, the celestial phenomena were bizarre, with heavy wind and rain. She had personally watched her eldest daughter collapse in pain, being gradually swallowed by this black light. Thinking back now, that was also the source where everything began to collapse.

Why would this male infant have Demonic Breath on him?

Luo Yao faintly felt that something was wrong with her deduction, but before she could figure it out, the vengeful spirit had already followed Shen Junxuan out of the room, surging toward him.

She subconsciously raised her sword to meet it. The icy blue sword tip rang with a long chime, plunging into the black mist.

“Why are all of you blocking my way!!!”

Little Rong’er’s chilling, enraged voice hissed in her ear.

“What you did was not wrong, but Shen Junxuan truly cannot die right now,” Luo Yao pressed down hard on her sword blade, feeling a chill spreading from her right earlobe again. It was likely that Si Yin had put the earring back on her while she was unconscious.

She had no time to worry about it now, because the vengeful spirit was even tearing apart its own body just to lunge at Shen Junxuan behind her.

“Yi An, both of you get out of the way first!” Tan Tan shouted toward Shen Junxuan’s back, forming a hand seal. A light pink barrier temporarily blocked Shen Junxuan.

Yi An hastily dragged the bar girl to the side, muttering: “We’re not scared, not scared, they are all gods, they won’t lose…”

Behind her, the girl smiled: “No, we’re not scared.”

On the other side, Luo Yao looked at the escalating battle, pursed her lips, and said to Si Yin: “If it gets too hard, switch with me.”

“Luo Yao, have you forgotten you don’t even have your true form anymore? You want to frequently use the True God’s Divine Aspect? Are you trying to court death?!” Si Yin suddenly raised her voice, her sword-like eyebrows lifted high. “I said no means no, do you hear me!”

Luo Yao smiled slightly: “No.”

Si Yin instantly became anxious, nearly dropping her sword: “Your Highness!!”

“Listen to me, I saw the memory of this vengeful spirit. She has cultivated for at least two thousand years now, and you are currently only in human form,” Luo Yao said calmly. “In terms of realm, you can’t win. In terms of will, she can go without food or sleep, day and night, just to kill Shen Junxuan. Can you?”

“But you…” Si Yin looked at her with conflicted eyes.

“It’s alright,” Luo Yao smiled. “I promise you, nothing will happen.”

With that, she let go of her sword hilt, and the long sword silently sank into the ground. She formed a complex hand seal across her chest. Streams of water instantly manifested from her fingertips in a manner that defied physics. If one looked closely, they would also notice a soft, blue spiritual light within the water columns.

She slightly raised her wrist, and three or four water columns immediately swirled around her posture, rushing toward the vengeful spirit like lightning.

Then, they heard the vengeful spirit let out a long scream. Its offensive suddenly slowed down. Tan Tan behind the barrier finally had a chance to breathe, and seizing the opportunity, she quickly pulled Shen Junxuan back to retreat.

“Shen Junxuan is guilty. We will deal with him for you; you don’t have to do this,” Luo Yao raised her pale face, looking down at the dense black mist before her.

She was naturally beautiful, but now all the color had drained from her face. Only her eyelashes were black like sparrow feathers. The clash between the extreme black and white held a particularly captivating beauty.

Little Rong’er’s icy voice came from within the thick mist: “It’s easy for you to say! Everyone says the same thing; everyone just wants to escape from my hands! I don’t believe you!”

“I promise you, I will not break my word,” Luo Yao said calmly.

Unexpectedly, Little Rong’er smiled coldly: “I don’t believe a single word from the gods.”

Seeing no other way, Luo Yao pursed her lips and pressed down the other wrist.

Dozens of water columns, with their master’s permission, launched simultaneously.

Before witnessing this scene, no one would think water held much power. Water-element magic was generally perceived as merely supportive.

But at least at this moment, the power unleashed by the water was astonishing. Water itself is flexible and shapeless, giving it a complete advantage in quickly binding an opponent. In nearly an instant, the black mist was locked in an area by hundreds of streams of water. Immediately following, Luo Yao raised her hand, her fingertip connecting with a wisp of black mist.

The scene from the seaside in Yunshan Village reappeared before everyone.

Dense resentment madly surged into Luo Yao’s body through her fingertip, stirring up gusts of fierce wind in the courtyard. For a moment, clamor, screams, and wind mixed together.

Luo Yao’s world, however, was exceptionally quiet.

Normally at this time, she would hear the curses and persistent thoughts from these resentments, but this time, her surroundings were silent, like a desolate wilderness.

How could this be?

It shouldn’t be like this.

A malevolent ghost of Shen Ningrong’s level would surely produce resentment that was extremely difficult to purify. Luo Yao was even prepared to cough up bl00d or something similar.

She frowned, carefully sensing the sensation surging in through her fingertip: it was indeed ghost energy, but after the initial superficial surge, it was far less terrifying than she had imagined.

Unless…

Luo Yao considered a possibility.

—A possibility that, if true, would completely overturn all previous judgments.