I avoided the boy's gaze, trying to calm myself. It's good to be kind, but sometimes the kindest people are the easiest to exploit. I understand this principle very well. Sometimes, hardening your heart is also a form of cultivation.

I could feel the boy's disappointment and confusion. He didn't know why I suddenly stopped looking at him, but I really couldn't look at him right now.

I stared unblinkingly at the spot where the bubbles were rising in the water. The surface was churning violently now, and something was becoming faintly visible in the center of the swirl.

The boy's emotions flared up again, and he began to desperately slam his head against the invisible wall, even as sparks flew from the wall and injured him.

The boy was soon covered in injuries, but he remained fixated on whatever was in the water.

Finally, I saw it. A corpse emerged from the swirl, a woman's corpse covered in wounds, her hands and feet bound. A black talisman was stuck to her forehead.

The boy screamed heartrendingly, making a sound like his mother. He slammed against the wall even harder. The intense pain his ghostly body was enduring twisted his face, but his狰狞 (zheng ning – ferocious) appearance didn't seem terrifying. Instead, it was heartbreaking.

I finally understood why the boy kept bringing Taoists here. The boy hadn't been pushed into the moat by Qing Wen; he and Qing Wen had been bound hand and foot by someone else and thrown into the moat. To imprison their souls within their bodies, the evildoer had stuck black soul-sealing talismans on their foreheads.

Fortunately, after the boy's soul had been tormented in the water for some time, the black talisman had fallen off. His body had floated to the surface and been discovered, and his soul had been able to escape. But his mother was still suffering in the water.

Although his mother hadn't been very good to him, she was his only relative, his only anchor. He couldn't stand by and watch his mother suffer in the water. He had to find a way to save her, so he risked dissipating his soul, using his frail ghostly form to travel through the city, repeatedly inviting all sorts of people who understood术法 (shu fa - magic arts) to save his mother.

But the boy would never understand that this was all a conspiracy.

Qing Wen had been deceived. There was no rich second-generation from the south. She wasn't going to become a phoenix. She had just met an evil cultivator.

The boy had also been deceived, and even exploited. The talisman on the boy's head hadn't fallen off by itself; it had been deliberately arranged by the evil cultivator.

He first killed the mother and son in the same way, allowing the boy to fully experience how painful it was for his mother's soul to be sealed inside her corpse. Then, he deliberately released the boy, letting him lead wave after wave of cultivators to their doom.

The Feng Shui around the moat had been altered. As soon as people entered this area, they became especially susceptible to the surrounding emotions. In addition, the boy's desire to save his mother was truly genuine and intense, so many people had fallen for it.

The female corpse in the river was no longer Qing Wen. Although the black talisman was still on her forehead, her soul had long since left her body. She was the first sacrifice to the magic weapon. This floating corpse was just for the mute boy to see.

I flung out my abacus, manipulating the beads with one hand. Several sharp gusts of wind shot out from the abacus, striking the corpse directly. One of the corpse's arms was instantly pierced, and the black talisman on her forehead was also knocked off.

The mute boy screamed heartrendingly again, desperately hitting and biting me, telling me to stop harming his mother. Even though his mother was already dead, he wouldn't allow me to desecrate his mother's corpse like that.

But I had no choice. Only by doing this could I make him recognize the truth. Only then could I make him understand that his mother was gone and that he shouldn't think about her anymore, that he shouldn't try anymore.

What I was doing was indeed cruel. I was depriving a little ghost of his only hope, his only support. But I had to do it, or more innocent and kind people would be harmed, and the boy would be labeled as an evil tool, making it difficult for him to be reincarnated in the future.

I continued to manipulate the beads in my hand, and the female corpse burst open all over. She was quickly cut into an unrecognizable mess. My other hand was also bitten by the boy, leaving several black teeth marks.

After all, ghosts don't have a physical form. They are just aggregations of Yin energy, so his teeth couldn't really cut through my skin, only leave black marks. Those marks were because of the boy's utter hatred for me.

I ignored the boy and continued to attack the female corpse in the water. Finally, the female corpse stopped letting me do whatever I wanted. The gaps cut into her body healed quickly, her eyelids suddenly opened, revealing eyes with no pupils, and her teeth and nails began to lengthen at a speed visible to the naked eye. Bizarre scales grew on her water-bloated skin, making her look utterly terrifying.

The boy was instantly stunned, staring at his mother in disbelief, unable to understand why his incomparably beautiful mother had suddenly turned into such a terrifying sight.

The female corpse, of course, ignored the boy's surprise. She flipped over in the stinking water, leaped out, and pounced on me.

I pushed the boy away and sent out a palm strike, directly knocking the female corpse back into the water. But her scales were hard, and she didn't seem to be injured. After a brief pause, she attacked me again. I protected the boy while fending off the female corpse.

After fighting me for a few rounds, the female corpse immediately realized the difference in strength. A ferocious smile appeared on her face, and she actually changed the direction of her attack to the boy.

Not only did the boy not dodge, but he even moved forward to meet her attack several times. To him, being killed by his mother seemed like a form of happiness.

I felt heartbroken for this boy again. When the mother and son were alive, the mother had never given him a single good day. She had beaten him, cursed him, and used him as a punching bag. After the mother died, his persistent efforts to save her were met with her lethal attacks.

But his mother was still the boy's only anchor. Even if his mother had turned into this form, even if his mother wanted to kill him, eat him, he would still be willing.

While fighting the female corpse turned monster, I cautiously observed the surface of the water. After pushing the boy far away, I suddenly changed the direction of my attack. Several arcs of iron-gray light struck the water's surface. A massive wave churned, and an ancient carved wooden box popped out of the water.

As soon as the female corpse saw the wooden box pop out, she disregarded her own life and used her body to block my attack on the box.

But it was useless. The female corpse monster and the wooden box were shattered simultaneously, and a dark black ancient sword fell down.

I quickly cast seven talisman papers, wrapping the black sword. At the same time, I kicked the stones beneath my feet, arranging a simple magic formation, trapping the black sword in the center.

The black sword hovered in the air. I sat cross-legged in front of the magic formation, constantly chanting incantations. Flames appeared on the talisman papers, constantly scorching the black sword. Slowly, cracks appeared on the black sword. Wisps of smoke emerged from the cracks, slowly transforming into human figures.

Monks, Taoists, and cultivators in various garbs clasped their fists at me, then dissipated. Finally, a woman appeared from the smoke – Qing Wen.

Actually, I didn't have to do this. The energy in their souls had already been drained. Even if they briefly manifested, it wouldn't mean anything. They would still quickly dissipate.

I wasted so much of my power just so that Qing Wen could say goodbye to her son.

"Not much time. Hurry up."

I waved at Qing Wen, but Qing Wen's actions shocked me again.