With the final strokes of the Wash Away Injustice Talisman inked,
time began to reverse,
and the environment around Zhou Xuan changed as well; what was late at night had turned into morning.
The not-too-intense sunlight filtered through the birch forest and onto the brick wall behind the church, evoking in Zhou Xuan a feeling of beautiful bygone years.
Zhou Xuan spotted a person, it was Liu Jinmin.
He was carrying the body of his mother on his back, slowly making his way towards the back window of the church.
The window was shut, obscuring the interior from view, but behind it came instructive words,
"Same as always, place your mother’s body under the wall!"
Judging by the awkward accent of the voice, the one instructing Liu Jinmin was the "Life God," that skinny, tall man who wore a wig and impersonated a foreign devil.
Liu Jinmin folded his mother Mrs. Liu’s legs, and with her hands behind her back, twisted them together like a braided rope.
This seemed to be some kind of ritualistic gesture demanded by the "Life God," but it was inhumane—how could one possibly twist their hands backwards like that?
Mrs. Liu’s condition was extremely pitiful; her scalp was almost entirely gone, revealing her bald skull underneath, but the life force within her was astonishingly resilient, still clinging to life after such severe injuries.
Her hands were violently twisted by her son, the bones making continuous snapping sounds as they broke.
"Mom, you’re now, you can’t survive, being able to offer your life as a sacrifice to the Life God at your final moments is also a blessing."
Liu Jinmin exerted a great deal of effort and finally managed to contort Mrs. Liu’s bound hands into a twisted shape; then the Spell began reciting from within the window,
Two wisps of smoke began to emerge from Mrs. Liu’s body, one wisp was pale yellow, the other was dark as ink.
The pale yellow smoke, Zhou Xuan had seen it in Liu Jinmin’s mist before—it was Life Force, and the ink-like smoke...
Zhou Xuan moved closer, noticing that the ink-like smoke had a strange smell, like rotten eggs.
The two columns of smoke rose from Mrs. Liu’s body, then shot straight into the window.
Mrs. Liu’s body showed no change, but from within the window came a single contented exclamation: "Comfortable!"
Just two words, but they were in two different tones.
The word "comfortable" had the youthful tone of a vibrant young child speaking, while the tone of "wearing" was that of an old and weary sigh from a decrepit elder.
The two tones rapidly switched within the two words, creating an extremely eerie effect.
The two streams of smoke were ceaselessly inhaled by the "thing" inside the window, and Mrs. Liu was becoming unable to withstand it, with her already diminishing consciousness accelerating its dispersal.
"Mom, you can’t die, just hold on a little longer, just a little bit more."
Liu Jinmen, afraid Mrs. Liu would die before the completion of the ritual, picked up a brick not far away and smashed it onto Mrs. Liu’s leg bone.
and a piece of Mrs. Liu’s leg bone caved in.
The intense pain momentarily aroused Mrs. Liu’s fading awareness, her eyelids fluttered a few times, but ultimately they did not open.
Liu Jinmin lifted the brick again, and every half minute, he would smash it down on Mrs. Liu’s leg bones again.
After about four or five minutes, when no more pale yellow and black smoke could be emitted from Mrs. Liu’s body, a languid voice came from the window: "I am very satisfied with this sacrifice, Liu Jinmin, take your mother’s body away."
Liu Jinmin hoisted Mrs. Liu onto his back and walked towards the back mountain.
The voice from within the window reminded him again: "The next person to die is Chen Dehai; his time of death is tomorrow at 5:30 in the morning. Be prepared in advance, as soon as he meets his fate, bring him here to me."
Liu Jinmin acknowledged and his figure disappeared into the back mountain.
Zhou Xuan witnessed the tragic moments before Mrs. Liu’s death, and anger ignited his body like a fiery furnace.
He punched through the rift in time and returned to reality, a strong resolve forming in his mind: "I must wash away your injustice!"
As soon as the thought arose, the Wash Away Injustice Talisman vibrated once more.
Zhou Xuan took out the talisman, and with his perception, flipped it to the last page, where four characters appeared — "Facing death, wash away injustice!"
This obsession was codenamed "Facing death."
Zhou Xuan put away the Wash Away Injustice Talisman and went to meet with Lv Mingkun.
"Fifth Senior Brother, my Blood Well has sensed the real cause of death of Mrs. Liu, the Ironsmith, and the others; that Liu Jinmin is a beast!"
Zhou Xuan said: "Each of the people Liu Jinmin used as a sacrifice for Life God hadn’t truly died; they are in a state of impending death."
"Right, the sacrifice is peculiar, it’s neither blood nor flesh, but the two wisps of smoke that emitted from the bodies of those on the brink of death, one wisp pale yellow, the other ink-black..." Zhou Xuan explained in detail.
"That’s Life Qi and Death Qi!"