Aunt Wu was stunned at first, then immediately let loose and cursed without mercy: "Who are you calling a scourge? I say you’re the scourge!"

Your whole family are scourges! If it weren’t for you, how would my girl Shu end up hurt like this?!"

Old Daoist Huang gave a heavy cold snort and said, "You ignorant mortal! What do you know! This woman’s origins are unknown, her identity a mystery. That water calamity last night was her doing!"

"Do you know why this Daoist insisted on naming her in particular to accompany the sacrifice to the River God?!"

Aunt Wu’s face was full of contempt: "Isn’t it just because you saw my girl is pretty as a flower and got ideas?"

"Utter nonsense!" Old Daoist Huang flew into a rage: "Such benighted ignorance, simply incurable!"

"Do you know this woman can speak ghost language? It was she who colluded with that resentful female ghost in the water, deliberately luring us into the river to wipe us all out in one go!"

"Fortunately this Daoist already had suspicions about her. After several times of getting close, I indeed sensed demon energy hidden on her body." 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

"Last night was my probing. Who knew it would make you give rise to such filthy misunderstandings!"

"If it hadn’t been for this Daoist’s earlier preparations, fighting Sorcery with this demonic woman for forty‑nine rounds before severely wounding and subduing her, otherwise how would you lot still be alive?!"

Aunt Wu was made to feel that her words were feather‑light against his god‑like talk, and as if he spoke with reason and evidence; she couldn’t help but be scolded into a daze.

The people around immediately crowded up as well, all rebuking Aunt Wu’s disrespect: "Aunt Wu, what you just said was really a grave disrespect to the old Immortal."

"If it weren’t for the old Immortal casting spells and setting up arrays, how would our village have these peaceful days? He is a man of cultivation, with a clear and upright bone; how could he be the lecherous old pervert greedy for beauty you speak of?!"

Old Daoist Huang’s face twitched hard; he gave a light cough and once more put on the airs of a lofty master, saying nothing.

Someone else stood out and said, "Everyone must have seen the scene last night. This brook isn’t very wide, normally only an hour’s walk along the bank, yet last night it was so perilous."

"You say there are no ghosts in that riverbed, I don’t believe it! Only... this girl Shu... is she really some unclean demonic thing?"

Old Daoist Huang gave a cold snort and said, "When you found the remaining five women, did you notice what was different between them and this woman?"

The woman who was speaking hesitated on her face for a moment, then said, "Those women just swallowed a bellyful of river water and fainted clean away, and had no external wounds on their bodies..."

"Exactly!" Old Daoist Huang nodded, face stern. "When this Daoist was in the river doing Demon Suppression and Ghost‑slaying, I used Exorcising Vajra talismans and severely injured the Fierce Ghost. Any Evil Spirit would be harmed by this Daoist’s mighty, upright Vajra qi."

"The other women merely fell into the water and lost consciousness; only this one was covered in blood from head to toe. That was my talismanic arts injuring her. If she were a mortal, how would she fear this Daoist’s Vajra qi?!"

Everyone’s expressions changed at once. Their faces twisted with horror and vigilance as they looked at Shu Ci lying unconscious on the ground.

"I was just wondering about that young master from the Baili Family—such a fine, proper looking person. How is it he looks every day like his yang energy is depleted, an old sickness clinging to him? Turns out there’s this kind of scourge hiding at his side."

"Auntie Zhao is exactly right. I thought this girl Shu strange from the start. In this poor backwater of ours, what decent family’s daughter would have such a seductive,妖里妖气 face."

"I’d say only those Mountain Spirits and monsters from deep in the hills would take on a look like that. Speaking of it, that young master of the Baili Family is truly pitiful. At a glance you can tell he’s a young lord from a great household."

"Those Evil Spirits and ghosts just love to cozy up to such fair‑skinned, clean little lords. They’ve got noble qi on them and are very nourishing."

"That’s what I said, this girl’s age looks like she could be that young master’s mother already. With the two of them so mismatched, how could they possibly be husband and wife? I’d bet he’s been bewitched by this Banshee’s Sorcery."

The one speaking was a pretty young widow from the village, and her words were clearly tinged with personal grievance.

Baili An’s looks were handsome and delicate, and who knew how many village girls had their jealousy and resentment stirred up toward Shu Ci because of him.

This pretty widow had been coveting Baili An’s body for quite some time. Now that she finally had a hold on Shu Ci’s sore spot, how could she not spit on her a few times while she was down.

Aunt Wu saw everyone’s hearts were filled with indignant rage, obviously having completely believed Old Daoist Huang’s words.

After all, the peasant women in such a poor place were the most steeped in feudal superstition, and Old Daoist Huang’s words were sharp, sounding well‑reasoned and well‑evidenced.

Taking all the strange events before and after together, they wound up utterly convinced.

But Aunt Wu was, in the end, a kind‑hearted person. With no solid evidence, she was afraid that her girl Shu would be treated as some Evil Spirit and beaten to death just like that, without rhyme or reason.

She still braced herself against enormous pressure, wanting to protect her a bit.

"Well... while Demon Suppression and exorcising demons is a good thing, she is, after all, a living person. It’s not that this old woman doubts Daoist‑master, but right now she truly looks no different from an ordinary person."

"If we rashly close the lid on her case and beat her to death, wouldn’t that be quite the sin."

Old Daoist Huang swung the wide sleeves of his Daoist robe and said airily, "It’s fine. Once this old Daoist opens the altar and casts the spell, and we burn her over a fire, we’ll know whether the skin beneath is human or ghost."

At the mention of setting someone on fire, Aunt Wu’s face changed drastically. "That mustn’t be done! It mustn’t! How can you burn a living person?!"

The others, seeing her go against Old Daoist Huang several times in a row, all frowned in deep displeasure and rushed up to block her.

"Aunt Wu, Daoist Huang has already made everything so clear. Stop making trouble for us."

"If this woman really is something unclean, are you going to pay with your life for those innocent women who died?!"

"Exactly! And if you offend the Immortal Huang, and he flicks his sleeves and leaves, leaving this scourge in the village, are you trying to get us all killed?!"

"Besides, Daoist Huang’s magic is profound. He’s just using Immortal Fire to test her. If she truly is innocent, of course Daoist‑master will draw back his power and spell and will not take her life."

"We beg Daoist‑master to quickly perform the ritual!"

"We beg Daoist‑master to quickly perform the ritual!"

Amid the shouts rising one wave after another, a vicious glint hid in Old Daoist Huang’s eyes. He let out a cold laugh, having not the slightest tender feeling for fragrance and jade anymore.

He grabbed Shu Ci’s hair hard and yanked her up, then slapped her twice, one from each side, across the face.

Shu Ci gave a muffled cough, a thin line of blood spilling from her mouth, and the pain actually made her slowly come to.

As soon as she woke, she saw the black mass of people around her, their gazes wary and full of loathing, whispering in low voices, pointing fingers at her.

As if some unclean thing had just opened its eyes before them.

Shu Ci only felt her hair being yanked to the point of tearing pain beneath that old Daoist’s hand, his veins bulging.

Her entire body was weak, and in her heart she was inwardly shocked at how capable the Demon Lord was—just a wisp of Jun Yan’s breath could drive a hundred‑year female ghost’s Soul Power to its utmost limit.

The strength she had finally managed to slowly recover over these days had been exhausted clean away, only barely enough to preserve herself.

Now she was weak to the extreme, fallen into this old Daoist’s hands, and actually had no strength left to fight back.

Her face was deathly pale, that cold, austere face showing almost no expression. She pressed her lips into a tight line and did not say a single word.

The old Daoist, seeing her in such a state, confirmed his suspicions in his heart, knowing she was indeed grievously wounded this time, unable to be the least bit arrogant.

He grew even more complacent inside. Looking at that bewitching,妖媚 face that stirred the heart, he hated her so much his teeth itched. In a voice so low only the two of them could hear, he ground out:

"Now, in this state, you’ve landed in this Daoist’s hands. Didn’t expect it, did you? The wheel of fortune turns!"

"You still wanted this Daoist fed to the Water Ghosts. Today I’ll make you taste what it feels like to be burned alive, and we’ll see if you’re afraid or not?!"

"Afraid?" Shu Ci’s eyes were full of icy ridicule. "Being burned alive is nothing at all."

In the span of tens of thousands of years, she had been burned alive while her bones were stewed, hacked by blades and halberds that cut to the heart, fried in boiling oil, burned and boiled in fire and broth, beheaded by axe and saw—what manner of death had she not endured.

Once upon a time, she realized she had been living in an undying Hell. The torments of the eighteen levels of Purgatory, she had long since sampled them all.

Now, these petty means of revenge from mortals—how could they possibly inspire fear in her heart?