Chapter 8: Do You Have Any Shame Left?

Liu Hanfei was now twisted into unnatural angles, his body drenched in blood. Had his chest not been rising and falling slightly, one would have assumed he was dead.

The next moment, the rest of the Zheng family, who had been resting at home, were tossed into the room as well. They were deathly pale and unconscious, looking to be in critical condition. Aunt Zheng, who had once touched Nan Yuanman’s small coffin, slowly regained consciousness as she hit the floor. She scanned the surroundings with a panicked, frantic expression, as if realizing what was happening, before turning her gaze to the silent doorway. "Is... is that you, Zhou Ying?"

"Is it really you who has returned?!"

The white mist at the doorway grew thicker. Ignoring the presence of Zheng Feiyu, Aunt Zheng fell to her knees and began kowtowing toward the entrance. "Zhou Ying, it wasn’t our family who caused your death! If you want revenge, go find the Liu family!"

"Our family truly knew nothing at the beginning. If we had, we never would have helped him broker the marriage!"

No sooner had she finished speaking than a hoarse, shrill laughter erupted from all directions. "Hahahaha! Nothing? He didn’t know?!"

"What a joke! Old man Zheng is seventy, not seven! How could he possibly have failed to see that Liu Hanfei was harboring malicious intent?"

Zhou Ying, clad in blood-soaked clothes, slowly materialized. The yin energy and resentment radiating from her were even heavier now, and the expression on her pale, gaunt face grew more ferocious. "Even if he couldn't see it, what was his motive in introducing a thirty-five-year-old man to a girl who wasn't even twenty yet?!"

Aunt Zheng cried out in grievance, "Brokering the marriage was just introducing the two parties! It was your family who saw the high dowry offered by the Liu family and agreed to it—"

"Shut up!" Zhou Ying waved her hand uncontrollably, and a mass of yin energy shot toward her face.

Aunt Zheng screamed in terror, instinctively closing her eyes. Zhang Shimian acted quickly, hurling a talisman. With a loud *bang*, the yin energy and the talisman collided; the talisman ignited without a flame, burning the mass of energy to nothing.

Zhou Ying’s eyes grew even more venomous. "It’s all your fault! If Old Man Zheng hadn't brokered this marriage, I wouldn't have died at the hands of that beast, Liu Hanfei!"

"I was so close! I was about to go to university, I could have worked to ease the financial burden on my mother—it was so close!"

"It’s all your fault! All of you! I’m going to kill you all!"

Anger extinguished the last shred of Zhou Ying’s remaining reason. With a piercing shriek, she lunged at Aunt Zheng. Zhang Shimian stepped forward to intercept her. The events unfolded too rapidly; in the blink of an eye, Zhang and Zhou were locked in combat. Zheng Feiyu scrambled to grab Aunt Zheng’s hand, pulling her away from the fray.

Zhang Shimian tried to persuade her earnestly, "Zhou Ying, calm down! You haven't committed any murders yet; there is still room to turn back."

"The old man who brokered the marriage is already dead, and you have already taken your revenge on Liu Hanfei. The rest of the Zheng family does not deserve to die!"

"My life was ruined by them! Why should the Zheng family continue to live in peace? I want to make sure they never have a moment of peace for the rest of their lives!" Zhou Ying spat back with hatred.

She blamed the old man, regarding him as the primary culprit for her death. Zhou Ying’s face twisted. "I want to ruin the Zheng household. I want them to be cursed with misfortune for generations to come. Only by destroying their family and seeing them dead will I be satisfied!"

Zheng Feiyu and Aunt Zheng huddled in a corner, watching the human and the ghost tangled in the grand hall. Jiang Lixuan instinctively shielded Nan Yuanman to prevent her from being caught in the crossfire. However, given Zhang Shimian’s level of cultivation, it was a struggle for him to face a newly formed vengeful spirit alone. Furthermore, his magic tool had snapped after the first clash. Under the erosion of the yin energy and malice, his movements grew sluggish, his complexion turned deathly pale, and he was quickly losing ground.

Zheng Feiyu and Jiang Lixuan noticed Zhang Shimian’s struggle. Their hearts sank, and they instinctively looked toward Nan Yuanman. She was sitting in a corner by the wall, hugging a large bowl and gnawing on a chicken leg, completely unconcerned by the fight between Zhou Ying and Zhang Shimian.

Noticing the two gazes landing on her, she lifted her oily little face, blinked, and asked, "Why are you looking at me?"

Jiang Lixuan couldn't help but say, "Aren't you going to help?"

Nan Yuanman: "?"

She was puzzled. "Why should I help? Sister Zhou Ying won't kill me."

Jiang Lixuan: "But if you don't help, Zhang Shimian and the Zheng family will die. Aunt Zheng, who gave you mantou, and Brother Feiyu, who gave you food—they will die."

"Oh." Nan Yuanman’s tone was cold and ruthless. "That is their fate."

She had warned them at the beginning, but they hadn't believed her. What else could she do? Besides, this was the karma sown by the Zheng family; the last time she intervened, her little grass spirit lost a leg. She didn't dare interfere again.

Hearing this, a chill crept into Jiang Lixuan’s heart. He looked at Nan Yuanman with a complex expression, his eyes filled with disappointment. "How can you be so cold-blooded? Those people helped you! Can you really just watch them die?"

He had been wrong. He had hoped that the child Bai Wenyin bore would be different from her, at least possessing a shred of kindness. As it turned out, she was just as cold and heartless. She didn't compare to Xin Xin in the slightest.

Jiang Lixuan’s tone cooled. "Besides, you are a practitioner of the Dao. Isn't it your responsibility to subdue demons and defend the righteous?"

"Look at how old I am." Nan Yuanman bit into her chicken leg, her cheeks puffed out as she looked at him.

Jiang Lixuan: "...Three years old?"

"Five! I'm only five! I’m still just a child. You want a child to go out and subdue demons? Do you have no shame?" Nan Yuanman sneered and rolled her eyes at him without hesitation.

As they argued, Zhang Shimian was kicked away by Zhou Ying. He vomited blood, his body flying backward toward Nan Yuanman. Jiang Lixuan was startled and instinctively wanted to step forward to shield her, but remembering her words, he stopped in his tracks.

"Yuanman!" Aunt Zheng screamed, lunging toward her, intending to use her own body to block the impact.

That was the weight of a grown man; if he hit Nan Yuanman, she would be severely injured, if not killed! Nan Yuanman paused, her small brows furrowing. She flipped her hand, pulled the small coffin from her pocket, slapped a tattered talisman onto it, and threw it forward. The small coffin suddenly enlarged, blocking the path in front of Aunt Zheng.

*Thud!!*

Zhang Shimian’s body slammed heavily into the coffin lid, sliding down like a pile of mud. As he hit the ground, the coffin shrunk back to its original size in Nan Yuanman’s hand. She stood up angrily, glaring at Zhou Ying. "Sister Zhou Ying, that’s not fair! I hid in the corner and didn't even get involved! How could you hit me?"

"My grandpa said that if someone offends you and you don't hit back, it’s impolite behavior! So, I’m sorry, Sister Zhou Ying!"

After saying this, Nan Yuanman pulled out the one-legged grass spirit and threw it out. Seeing the situation turn against her, Zhou Ying’s resentment surged, and the yin energy intertwined with it suddenly flooded the entire room.

Nan Yuanman’s vision blurred and spun. She found herself bound in a dim, cold, and damp little room.

"Don't struggle, Zhou Ying." A damp, sticky hand caressed her face. Nan Yuanman focused her gaze and saw Liu Hanfei, dressed in a suit and looking human, squatting in front of her.

No, rather, he was squatting in front of "Zhou Ying."

He held a small bottle filled with a murky liquid, looking at her with sinister, ruthless eyes. "You wouldn't want your mother and your younger siblings' hard-won peaceful life to be disrupted again, would you?"

"You know, it’s very easy for me to ruin a widow with children."

"Be a good girl and drink this. Don't worry, our Liu family will remember everything you’ve sacrificed."

Nan Yuanman’s hand reached out uncontrollably. Her hands were covered in blue and purple scars, looking as if they had been abused for a long time. Under Liu Hanfei’s threat, she tilted her head back and drank the murky liquid.

As soon as the liquid touched her throat, Nan Yuanman tasted it instantly.

It was corpse oil.