CH 152

At night, Mrs. Yang came out of the house holding a pot of blue fern and met Jing Yue who was about to return to his room.

“Halcyon Grass?”

Mrs. Yang was taken aback for a moment and changed her hand from holding the grass to hugging it in her arms as if worried that the pot would fall. She seemed very nervous.

She smiled and said, “Daoist, do you recognize this herb too?”

Jing Yue, “This herb is cold in nature and can expel fire poison.”

Mrs. Yang, “So you know medicine too.”

Jing Yue, “I know a little.”

Mrs. Yang, “The moon is bright tonight, so I want to bring it to the yard.”

The Halcyon Grass was afraid of the sun, so it used the moonlight as its nourishment, and it was always kept in the shade during the day.

Jing Yue, “Please go ahead.”

Jing Yue stood aside and invited Mrs. Yang to go first.

Mrs. Yang smiled gratefully and walked out the door with the halcyon grass in her arms.

On the way, she suddenly turned her head and found that Jing Yue was no longer where he was, probably already back in his room.

Mrs. Yang relaxed her shoulders slightly, looked down at the grass in her arms, and smiled softly.

At this time, the moonlight was bright, shining on the blue leaves of the halcyon grass. Black leaf veins emerged, like countless crisscrossing blood vessels, which looked a little disgusting.

But Mrs. Yang was undisturbed. She took out a feather and wiped the leaves lightly. When touched, the leaves curled slightly, like a mimosa.

At this time, Mrs. Yang would always laugh, calm and joyful as if seeing something she cherished the most.

After about half an hour, Mrs. Yang put down the halcyon grass and reluctantly left.

As soon as she left, a small figure stepped out of the darkness.

Yi Wang looked at the grass and then at Mrs. Yang's back with a thoughtful expression.

Early the next morning, Mrs. Yang was making medicine in the courtyard.

When Jing Yue came to the yard too, she said, “Daoist, did you rest well last night? There are porridge and steamed buns in the kitchen, still warm.”

“Thank you, Ma’am, but I have some dry food and have eaten some.”

Jing Yue asked, “Is Young Master Yang not at home?”

Mrs. Yang, “He went to pick some medicine for me. Due to the accident yesterday, he didn’t pick any.”

Seeing Jing Yue looking around, she said, “That little Daoist boy of yours went out early in the morning.”

Jing Yue was a little surprised. Although he knew that Yi Wang had left the house early, he thought that Yi Wang should be in the yard, but unexpectedly he went out.

As Jing Yue was about to look for him, Yi Wang trotted back with an uneasy expression on his face.

“What’s…”

Before Jing Yue finished speaking, Yi Wang took the initiative to pull Jing Yue into their room, uncaring of Mrs. Yang's curious gaze.

“We have to get out of here.” Yi Wang closed the door and said in a low voice with a serious face.

Jing Yue, “Why?”

Yi Wang, “The Yang family is cursed.”

Jing Yue was taken aback for a moment and then burst into laughter. Yi Wang was calm at first but gradually became annoyed. He turned to leave, but Jing Yue scooped him up with one hand and held him in his arms.

Yi Wang struggled a little before he quieted down and said in a muffled voice, “That Mrs. Yang is not a good person, don't be fooled by her.”

Jing Yue, “How do you know?”

Yi Wang thought of the scene he saw last night and couldn’t help feeling weird, but he couldn't tell what was wrong, so he wanted to go out this morning to find out some news. Unfortunately, he didn't hear anything wrong with Mrs. Yang but heard that there was a curse in the Yang family.

Even so, he still firmly believed that there was something wrong with Mrs. Yang. He had seen a lot of people who seemed kind and weak but were evil at heart. He trusted his instincts.

But could his intuition convince Jing Yue?

In the end, Yi Wang lowered his eyes. “I just know it.”

“It’s not a curse.”

Yi Wang's expression darkened and thought Jing Yue didn't believe him, but the latter said, “It’s a resentful spirit.

“A resentful spirit?” Yi Wang was stunned. Although he had heard of evil spirits, he had never met one before.

Seeing Yi Wang showing a little rare look of innocence, Jing Yue couldn't help but pat his head.

No matter how mature Yi Wang might appear to be, he was still a child less than ten years old, so he was scared by the curse.

Jing Yue didn't want to tell Yi Wang so quickly at first. After all, he hadn’t figured out some things yet, but if he didn't say anything, Yi Wang might misunderstand, so he said frankly, “When we rescued Yang Song yesterday, I found that he was heavily stained with resentful spirits, so I wanted to come to his house to take a look.”

Yi Wang, “Is the Yang family full of resentful spirits?”

Jing Yue, “Yes.”

Yi Wang, “Where?”

Jing Yue, “Before that, tell me what you heard today.”

Yi Wang stared at Jing Yue as if afraid that Jing Yue would laugh at him again, but seeing Jing Yue's upright attitude, he was a little satisfied, and said, “Yang Song and his wife has been married for less than a month, but a lot of things happened to the Yang family. First, on the second day of their wedding, the kitchen at home caught fire. Fortunately, they discovered it early and didn’t cause a disaster. On the same day, Mrs. Yang fell into the river, but she was rescued and was ill for a long time.”

Seeing Jing Yue's calm expression, Yi Wang was not surprised at all, but a little disappointed. “Later, Mrs. Yang had just recovered for a few days when Yang Song almost fell off his horse. The villagers didn't know that Yang Song ran into needle bees again yesterday.”

Jing Yue, “Did they say where the curse came from?”

Yi Wang nodded and repeated what he had heard.

It turned out that Yang Song had a twin brother named Yang Kai. They looked almost exactly the same and also fell in love with the same person.

However, Mrs. Yang was only interested in Yang Song. On the eve of their marriage, Yang Kai left sadly and disappeared without a trace.

Yi Wang, “Some villagers are saying that maybe so many things happened to the Yang family because Yang Kai was indignant. Perhaps his love has turned into hatred, and he found someone to perform a ritual to target the Yang family.”

Jing Yue, “Yang Song has a twin brother?”

Yi Wang nodded.

Jing Yue frowned, and said softly, “So that's how it is.”

Yi Wang didn't understand what he meant and was about to ask again when he heard a commotion outside.

“Oh no! Yang Song fell off the mountain!”

In the yard, Mrs. Yang froze, stood up abruptly, and rushed out in a panic.

Soon, a few young people arrived, carrying Yang Song on a stretcher. His head was covered in blood and he was unconscious. His limbs were twisted in strange angles, apparently broken.

They carried Yang Song back to the yard but didn’t stay. They only told Mrs. Yang, who was crying bitterly, to find a doctor, and ran away in a hurry as if afraid that they’d be cursed by the Yang family if they stayed too long.

Mrs. Yang was not in the mood to care. She fell beside the stretcher and sobbed.

“Do you want him to die? Why are you crying?”

The sudden voice startled Mrs. Yang, who looked up and saw it was Jing Yue.

“D-Daoist, what are you saying?”

Jing Yue, “Am I wrong? As a doctor, you know that the smell of iris can stimulate needle bees, but you still put it in the sachet.”

Jing Yue's five senses were far superior to ordinary people. When he rescued Yang Song yesterday, even though the other party's sachet was soaked in water, he still smelled the iris.

The sachet was a gift from Mrs. Yang, but he didn't know whether Mrs. Yang did it on purpose at the time, until he saw that Mrs. Yang was learned in medical skills.

Mrs. Yang's expression changed. “What needle bees? I don't know what you’re talking about.”

Jing Yue, “Yesterday, Yang Song was chased by a swarm of needle bees on the mountain and fell into the lake. Needle bees are gentle by nature. Without the stimulant from the iris, they wouldn’t attack in swarms, and the iris was in the sachet you gave him.”

Mrs. Yang paused. “I, I put some iris in the sachet for its calming effect. How would I know that he’d pass by the needle bees’ hive?”

Jing Yue, “Oh? Don’t you know that although the iris can calm the nerves, if it wasn’t neutralized by Yunchuan and black sunflower, it will cause confusion and blind a person’s vision?”

Seeing that Mrs. Yang was about to argue, he added, “You only have some iris in the sachet, and you know exactly what that means.”

Mrs. Yang fell silent.

Jing Yue, “He’s your husband. Why do you want to kill him?”

Mrs. Yang refused to answer as if she didn't hear him.

Jing Yue, “If you don't speak, why don’t we ask the resentful spirit hidden in the halcyon grass instead?”

Mrs. Yang turned pale instantly.

“Halcyon grass does have the effect of getting rid of fire poison, but it also has another name, called the Soul Nurturing Herb.” Jing Yue stared into Mrs. Yang's eyes. “The Soul Nurturing Herb can nourish and protect spirits. As a mortal, you probably don’t understand such things. I guess the resentful spirit in the halcyon grass told you about it, right?”

In fact, when Jing Yue saw the Soul Nurturing Herb in Mrs. Yang's hand last night, he could see that there was a resentful spirit hidden in the grass. Coupled with Mrs. Yang's strange behavior when Yang Song asked him to look at the fengshui, he suspected that Mrs. Yang also knew the existence of resentful spirits.

Why would Mrs. Yang raise resentful spirits and have murderous intentions toward Yang Song?

Unfortunately, Jing Yue had no spiritual energy and could not catch the spirit and ask. He thought Mrs. Yang was practicing some evil sorcery until Yi Wang said that Yang Song had a brother named Yang Kai who disappeared before they got married.

With twins, their souls could share the same body, which was why when some people lost their twin, they felt that the other party was not far away and was still with them.

However, if two souls occupied one body, the one that died must be the auxiliary soul, controlled by the main soul. But if the main soul died, the auxiliary soul could occupy the physical body.

At that time, Jing Yue suspected that Mrs. Yang wanted to kill Yang Song and let the spirit in the Soul Nurturing Herb possess his body.

Jing Yue, “Let me guess. You’re crying because Yang Song's body is destroyed and the spirit in the grass can't possess him, right?”

Mrs. Yang got up quickly and was about to rush into the house.

Jing Yue, “Stop running. It’s right here.”

He lifted the hand that he had been holding behind his back, and it was a pot of blue fern. The edges of the leaves curled up when exposed to the sun.

“Give it to me!” Mrs. Yang pounced fiercely, but how could she reach Jing Yue?

In desperation, she grabbed Yi Wang who was stunned by the side. Seeing her like this, Jing Yue became angry. He pulled Yi Wang behind him and threatened, “Do you want me to drop it?”

Mrs. Yang said sharply, “No!”

After a while, she said dejectedly, “You know some Dao arts, don’t you?”

Jing Yue, “A little.”

Yi Wang who was still stunned, “…”

Mrs. Yang, “Since you know everything, why ask?”

Jing Yue guessed most of it, but he was still puzzled. According to Yi Wang, Mrs. Yang liked Yang Song, not Yang Kai, so why would she kill Yang Song for Yang Kai? It didn’t make sense.

He thought of Yang Song's strange expression when Mrs. Yang said that Yang Song had saved her life, so he had a guess.

Jing Yue, “The current Yang Song isn’t Yang Song at all, but Yang Kai in impersonation. Is the resentful spirit in the halcyon grass the real Yang Song?”

Mrs. Yang said angrily, “Yes, Yang Kai lied to me. He killed Brother Song and then pretended to be Brother Song to marry me. What happened today is his retribution!”

After saying that, she slumped to the ground as if she had lost her soul.

On her wedding night, she had a dream. She dreamed that Yang Song was covered in blood and said that he was dead and that the person next to her pillow was actually his brother Yang Kai.

In the dream, Yang Song told her that he and his elder brother went up the mountain to hunt geese for dowry, but unfortunately, he rolled off the cliff and almost died. Instead of saving him, Yang Kai buried him alive on the spot and assumed his identity. To avoid suspicions, he spread the news that Yang Kai left the village because he was too sad.

Everyone in the village knew about the entanglement between the two brothers and Mrs. Yang and understood that Yang Kai was unwilling to let Mrs. Yang become his sister-in-law, so no one suspected anything.

But Yang Kai didn't know that Yang Song’s spirit had attached to him and entered Mrs. Yang's dream during their wedding night.

Mrs. Yang stammered and said, “I didn't want to believe it at first, but to test it, I lit a fire the next day. He was very scared.”

It turned out that she was caught in a fire when she was a child, and Yang Song rushed in to save her, but Yang Kai was too timid to approach. Since then, she gradually fell in love with Yang Song, and Yang Kai suddenly became afraid of fire.

Mrs. Yang, “When I confirmed that the dream was real, I didn't want to live anymore. I jumped into the river, but was rescued.”

When she was in a coma, Yang Song entered her dream again and told her about the Soul Nurturing Herb. Later, with her help, Yang Song's spirit detached from Yang Kai's body and lived in the Soul Nurturing Herb.

And Mrs. Yang had been planning how to kill Yang Kai to provide a body for Yang Song.

She glanced at Yang Kai's twisted and lifeless body, and said blankly, “In the end, he died but his body can no longer be used. I haven't told him that I knew the truth a long time ago, that I know he’s a murderer who even killed his younger brother.”

Jing Yue, “Do you really think that he doesn't know that you want to kill him? That he didn’t know you already found out?”

Mrs. Yang was taken aback.

When she returned to her senses, she realized that the Daoist and the boy were gone, and there was only a withered plant of the Soul Nurturing Herb on the ground.

On the mountain road outside Snowdrop Village, Jing Yue and Yi Wang walked side by side, and the latter couldn't help asking, “Why didn't you save Yang Kai?”

Jing Yue, “A life for a life. He harmed others, so this is retribution. Remember what I told you about the balance of Heavenly Dao.”

Yi Wang was silent for a moment, and said, “People are scary.”

Yang Kai seemed cheerful and Mrs. Yang seemed weak and gentle, but they hid so much evil in their hearts. Even in the name of love, their deeds were horrifying.

Jing Yue wanted Yi Wang to see more of the world, but he didn't want Yi Wang to become more paranoid, so he said, “There’s a scary side to the human heart but also…”

Suddenly, his eyes blurred, and he returned to reality from the illusion again.

Looking at a newly bloomed Forsaken Flower not far away, Jing Yue really wanted to curse aloud.