Die Schönheiten der Song-Dynastie

Kapitel 22

"Nonsense! Who are you?"

"How could our chieftain kill us?"

"Get this woman out of here!"

The people below were talking amongst themselves.

I shouted at the clan chief, "Do you dare admit it to his face?"

The clan chief looked at me coldly without responding.

I continued loudly, "You could have been reincarnated as humans, instead of enduring so many years of loneliness, solitude, and boredom in the darkness! If you had a choice, would you be willing to endure that long life of the past eighty-four years? Tell me your honest answer! Would you be willing?"

The people in the audience stopped their insults and remained silent.

The clan chief tried to stop me, but Jiang Ping managed to restrain him.

I seized the opportunity to continue my speech: "Did he ask for your opinions? No! He has no right to decide whether you live or die, no right to decide whether you are reincarnated or resurrected. He also has no right to decide to kill you and then resurrect you in the bodies of the children he just killed!"

He treats you like his own cattle and sheep, simply for the sake of his own sense of superiority and the feeling of being worshipped by you like gods.

How many people did he kill? Nearly three hundred! Young people he just murdered are lying all around you, innocent children! That's about the same number of people in your entire village! How can you bear to do that?

Your current state, neither human nor ghost, is entirely your clan leader's doing! Are you still going to listen to him?

The crowd began to whisper among themselves.

At this moment, the clan chief, having gotten rid of Jiang Ping's entanglement, walked to my side and said in a stern tone, "Don't listen to her nonsense and attempts to sow discord! Don't you even listen to me?"

"Chief, of course we'll listen to you!" The people responded enthusiastically.

"That's good. Your faces can't be restored, so how about I resurrect you in those children's bodies?"

After a moment's hesitation, people shouted in unison, "Yes!"

The clan chief stared at me with disdain and gave a cold laugh.

Suddenly, a young man's voice objected from the crowd: "I don't want to be resurrected. Let me die and be reincarnated!"

"Da Niu, it's you? Arrest him!" the clan chief ordered angrily.

Upon hearing this, the person next to him rushed forward.

The young man named Da Niu shouted, "Let me finish what I have to say! I'm not afraid of death, so what am I afraid of!"

"I don't have time to listen to you. Fine, you don't want to be resurrected, then you can continue to be a wild ghost underground!" The clan chief lost his patience.

"That woman is right! You have no right to decide my fate!"

I don't want to be resurrected; I just want to forget the past and start over!

You simply cannot imagine what kind of life I led. If you hadn't told me, I would never have known I'd been underground for eighty-four years!

"Kill him!" The chieftain had completely lost his mind, but the people around him did not move. They just stood quietly and listened. The sound of crying started with the women and children, and gradually everyone began to cry.

Da Niu continued indignantly, "Eighty-four years! Just think about it, what does it feel like to stay in a damp, dark pit for eighty-four years! How many times did I despair, and I couldn't even commit suicide!"

I think about getting out every day, I'd be willing to be a dog!

I just want to forget everything. Please, let me die and be reincarnated! I don't want my soul to be attached to someone else!

He knelt down as he spoke, and inspired by him, a whole group of people knelt down as well.

"What? You all want to rebel? Yes! I have killed a lot of people, and I also started the mudslide, because I couldn't bear to watch you die of illness!"

"Have I suffered less than you? You ungrateful wretches!" the clan chief roared in fury.

An old man trembled and said, "Chieftain, we only want to be reborn as humans and forget everything! Please grant our wish!"

"What's wrong with possessing your souls in the bodies of young people? Stop arguing, it's decided!"

Those who knelt fell silent; they had grown accustomed to obedience rather than resistance.

"The people can rejoice in success, but they cannot worry about the beginning!" the clan chief said softly, probably...

Realizing he had been too harsh, he softened his tone: "Don't worry, I will make you forget this memory, I promise! More than eighty years ago, I told you to wait for me to come back and save you. Unfortunately, I was murdered, but my ghost has returned! Tonight, we will bring you all back to life and let you start your lives anew!"

The clan chief turned and stared at Mr. Bian, probably wanting to use him to kill his clansmen again. But he had no murder weapon, and even with the help of a mortal, he probably wouldn't be able to kill them all in a day.

Without Bian Jizhong's ghost as an accomplice, the clan chief became a toothless tiger.

He slowly walked towards the student who was closest to me and whispered, "Vulcan, set them on fire and burn them to death!"

I closed my eyes, unable to bear witnessing this horrific scene. Although they were skeletal heads, they were now no different from my own flesh and blood; although they longed for death, they could still feel the pain of dying!

The Vulcan, who had been silent until now, spoke up: "You are committing a sin! I cannot do something as simple as killing my own descendants."

The chieftain pleaded, “Killing them will only bring them back to life. They are in a state where they have no other choice but to die. It will only be a temporary suffering. You were once a ruthless warrior. How have you become as soft-hearted as a woman? There is not much time left. Tonight will soon be over.”

Vulcan said helplessly, "Alright!"

He slowly walked up to the altar and let out a long sigh.

But something incredible happened again.

Suddenly, people below the altar began to fall down in twos and threes, and in the blink of an eye, everyone had collapsed.

The clan chief rushed onto the altar and shouted at Xiuxiu, "What's wrong with you, Xiuxiu?"

Xiuxiu, who was slumped on the ground, suddenly said, "Asheng, I see you. You've lost weight!"

One by one, the ghosts rose from their fallen bodies, their faces returning to normal—some thin and dark-skinned, some with full beards, some with acne-covered faces—all living, breathing faces. Their spirits slowly rose and floated in mid-air, smiling, their expressions serene and peaceful.

I finally saw the face of the woman named Xiuxiu clearly. She had delicate eyebrows, bright eyes, a fair oval face, a small and straight nose, and red lips and white teeth.

Her spirit floated into the air, smiling gently at the clan leader, revealing two beautiful dimples, waving her hand lightly, as beautiful as a fairy.

"Xiuxiu, don't leave me!" The clan leader ran over and grabbed her hand, but couldn't grasp anything.

The clan chief turned around anxiously, tears streaming down his face: "What happened? Quickly, stop them from leaving!"

Vulcan shook his head: "There's nothing we can do. Do you remember our leader? He left us in the same way!"

The ghosts hovered in the sky for a while before being carried away by the wind and disappearing into the void under the bright moon.

The clan chief stood there like a clay statue, staring in disbelief at the ghost in the sky, speechless for a long time, his face filled with despair and shock.

They didn't come to their senses until they disappeared into the void, and like a large bird, they flew into the sky until they became a small black dot in the middle of the moon.

The god of fire turned to the other gods and said, "I didn't expect to fail again. It seems that fate is truly unpredictable! Let's go, until we meet again!"

Three orbs of light emerged from the bodies they were attached to, flew off in different directions, and gradually disappeared into the depths of the forest.

The universe seemed to consist only of the sound of the river and the distant forest tides.

Everything changes in an instant, as unpredictable as a dream!

I rubbed my eyes. There were indeed hundreds of cold corpses lying around the altar. How could this be?

Jiang Ping walked to my side, and just as he was about to say something, the clan leader's figure grew larger and larger, and in the blink of an eye, he appeared on the altar.

"Tell me, what exactly happened?" the chieftain seemed to be talking to himself.

“The three gods of metal, wood, and fire have all left,” Jiang Ping said softly.

"Tell me, what exactly happened?" The clan chief seemed to suddenly come to his senses, roaring as the muscles on his face twisted and became terrifying.

Jiang Ping sighed and remained silent.

Bian Jizhong's ghost appeared on the altar at some unknown time, as if it had sprung up out of nowhere from the ground.

"You dog slave! Where have you been? I never expected you to ruin my plans! You just wait, hahahaha!" The clan chief laughed maniacally, his fingers clenched into fists that cracked loudly.

Bian Jizhong's ghost remained expressionless.

The clan chief rushed forward, trying to strangle him.

At that moment, a deep male voice rang out from behind the altar: "It has nothing to do with him, I orchestrated everything!"

....................................

Forgive me for keeping you in suspense for the last time, but I hope someone can guess who this man is?

I've already given plenty of hints in the story; it's definitely not some Buddha or Lao Tzu. :)

I hope someone can guess it, then I'll post the last text.

....................................................

A man of medium height and strong build walked up to the altar. He wore tattered armor, had a full beard, and eyes as sharp as an eagle's.

The clan chief stared at him, his pupils shifting rapidly. Finally, he recognized him and exclaimed urgently, "It's you? It's you again!"

The man laughed heartily: "That's right! It's me, didn't expect that, did you?"

A flash of lightning struck my mind: It was the Earth God, the Earth God among the Five Gods, the Earth God who was killed in ancient times!

The clan chief asked, "You still exist in this world?"

The Earth God said, "Thanks to your ancestors, I have been suppressed in this pit for ten thousand years. I am a god, how could I be easily destroyed?"

"You deserve it! The chief could have been resurrected, but it was all because of you, you scoundrel!" the clan chief said bitterly.

"What good will resurrection do? Will it turn our defeat around? Do we still have any soldiers left to fight? He's too stubborn, all courage and no strategy. His resurrection will only lead us to destruction!" the Earth God said angrily.

"Nonsense! Even now, you still show no remorse! You are stingy with your daughter, and for the sake of an insignificant girl, you have even disregarded your own leader and dared to deceive the gods!"

"Yes, I can't bear to part with my daughter! She is my most beloved treasure, I can't bear to kill her, I can't do it! In your eyes, she can be slaughtered like cattle and sheep, as long as it can bring the leader back to life."

I also respect and love our leader, and I would die for him, but I cannot kill my beloved daughter!

Our defeat was inevitable; everyone knew it, but no one wanted to admit it. I was just an unlucky guy. I don't think I did anything wrong!

"Haha, she didn't survive after all; she was killed!" the clan chief laughed maliciously.

"Hmph, it was your ancestor who killed my daughter with his own hands back then, so today you are watching your lover leave you! If he knew in the afterlife, he would definitely regret why he acted so rashly!" the Earth God retorted sarcastically.

"I think he'll only regret not completely destroying you back then!" the chieftain said viciously.

"If that's the case, I'll only thank him! The Water and Earth Generals have always been at odds, so your ancestor used that opportunity to kill me, deliberately suppressing my soul under the altar with the Evil-Suppressing Tree, torturing me in this way! Haha, he sowed the seeds of evil, and today he reaps the bitter fruit!"

"Tell me, what exactly have you done?" the chieftain said angrily.

"Haha, of course I'll tell you. The time your people have been suppressed underground is roughly the same as the time I've been suppressed! Not a day goes by that I don't think about revenge!" The Earth God's voice was as sharp as a sword. "After tens of thousands of years of cultivation, I made great strides eighty years ago, but I still couldn't escape the ancient tree's suppression."

So I devised a way to make the tree bear fruit. How ironic that a tree meant to suppress evil would bear evil fruit!

"You mean you made the fruit on the tree grow?" the chieftain asked in surprise.