Chapter 35: Ghost Mountain Villa 35
<Previous Chapter<Table of Contents>Next Chapter>
Xi Shuang hadn’t expected Yan Shixun to assess her in this way. She stared at the handsome young man in a daze, unsure of what to say.
From the moment she refused the grim reaper a century ago, prayed for power from that unknown figure, and fell into a malevolent spirit, she had already passed a death sentence on herself in her heart.
She was an unfilial daughter who caused her nanny, who should have been able to enjoy her old age, to suffer a miserable death. She was a deeply sinful person who killed dozens of bandits, she deserved to plummet into the depths of hell and endure endless punishment.
Not only the people in the living room at this moment but also the villagers and passersby who had entered Ghost Mountain in the past would be terrified and flee in panic when they saw her, as if she were a man-eating demon. If they ran a little slower, she would kill them.
This was the evidence.
It was a fact that Xi Shuang couldn’t deny.
However, with her being like this, someone seriously told her, ‘You’re good, you can.’
Xi Shuang’s expression was complex, a mix of joy and sorrow. Her red lips moved slightly, but the words she wanted to say were swallowed back.
Yan Shixun noticed all of Xi Shuang’s reactions and knew what she was hesitating about. So he raised his hand and pointed to Bai Shuang, who was hiding in the background, saying, “Do you still remember her? The girl you possessed before. Look at her, living brightly and freely, daring to love and hate, never losing her own judgment and independence no matter the time.”
Bai Shuang didn’t expect Yan Shixun to praise her so much and blushed, shyly tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. She said, “Oh, it’s not that big of a deal. I was scared of Sister too. But you, you’re amazing, and you’re even prettier than me. I heard that you used to be a famous Cantonese opera singer? Isn’t that almost like winning a Song God Award nowadays? If you were born in this era, I bet countless people would go crazy for you.”
The praise and affirmation from the young girl who was also a female made a smile appear on Xi Shuang’s beautiful face. She looked at Bai Shuang and the members of the production team with a soft and knowing gaze, like an experienced elder sister.
Seeing this, Yan Shixun smiled slightly.
Just as he had anticipated, Bai Shuang had executed a perfect assist.
Xi Shuang had always been resistant to humans. Even with the person who had lived in the white room on the left side, her attitude had only been non-hostile and non-threatening.
However, Xi Shuang viewed Bai Shuang as an exception.
When the production team had first arrived at Ghost Mountain, Bai Shuang had gone into the garden’s white rose bushes and started singing in front of a camera, essentially broadcasting a live performance. This act had been seen as challenging the boundaries under the rules formed by the various forces in the mansion.
However, because the remains were abandoned in the garden and Xi Shuang controlled this place, she didn’t attack Bai Shuang.
She only created illusions in Bai Shuang’s mind through the dressing table mirror when Bai Shuang wanted to leave the room again at night to take selfies in the garden. Then she possessed Bai Shuang, making her appear no different from herself in the eyes of the monsters that had become bandits inside the villa.
Otherwise, if Bai Shuang had gone out alone at night, she would definitely have encountered the monsters inside the villa and met a fate similar to Liu Yiyi’s.
Furthermore, she manipulated Bai Shuang’s body to bypass the rose garden, going directly to the woodshed that all the monsters hesitated to approach. This avoided the possibility of Bai Shuang being dragged into the earth by the rose-faced roses in the garden.
This provided enough time for Yan Shixun to safely retrieve Bai Shuang from outside the woodshed.
Yan Shixun only discovered Xi Shuang’s goodwill towards Bai Shuang and her various coincidences that kept Bai Shuang unharmed when he got all the information from inside the villa and re-evaluated the situation. It was an unexpected result.
Maybe it was because Bai Shuang’s singing in the garden had touched Xi Shuang, allowing the confused and lost malevolent spirit to remember her time as a Cantonese opera singer.
Or perhaps it was because this girl with the same name as her possessed the same bright smile she had when she was young…
Xi Shuang had been gazing at Bai Shuang gently, as if she were observing another version of herself from a different time and possibility.
So Yan Shixun pointed at Bai Shuang and said to Xi Shuang, “This is the girl who was raised in an era a hundred years after your death. She has the right to love and to wait. The freedom you never got to experience, she possesses them all. The oppression and biases you despised, the women now won’t have to endure them anymore.”
“Wouldn’t you want to give this era a try?”
Xi Shuang was visibly moved by his words
She hesitated for a moment, parting her lips, but didn’t immediately answer Yan Shixun’s question.
The members of the production team also grasped some understanding from their conversation and realized that Xi Shuang wasn’t a malevolent spirit. Their initial fear started to dissipate, and their gazes toward Beishuang became more encouraging.
Seizing the moment, Yan Shixun continued, “And actually, there’s something you might have misunderstood.”
In response to Xi Shuang’s puzzled gaze, Yan Shixun went on, “A hundred years ago, your lover didn’t abandon you.”
Xi Shuang’s phoenix-like eyes widened slightly.
“At the same time you encountered the bandits, the city was also under bombardment from explosives. Your lover, filled with joy and anticipation on his way to you, got caught in the blast and perished in the explosion.”
In the letter found on Xi Shuang’s dressing table, her lover mentioned that he had successfully become the president of the Coastal Trade Association. This revelation confirmed Yan Shixun of the identity of Xi Shuang’s lover.
“The president of the Coastal Trade Association, missing in the bombing incident, presumed dead, with no remains.”
Yan Shixun recited, word by word, the entry in the local records regarding the president of the Coastal Trade Association from a hundred years ago.
Tears welled up in Xi Shuang’s phoenix-like eyes.
She turned slightly red around her eyes and choked out, “So, he didn’t abandon me, right? He always loved me, wanted to marry me as his wife, he didn’t change his mind, did he?”
In the eager gaze of Xi Shuang, Yan Shixun nodded solemnly, giving her an affirmative answer.
“Yes.”
The beautiful woman wept as roses endured in the rain.
Joy and sadness mingled in her tears, washing away all the resentment in Xi Shuang’s eyes. She became vibrant and full of life once again.
“I didn’t even know, yet I resented him for a hundred years, waited for him for a hundred years, but he had already taken the next step ahead of me… After a hundred years, he must have already crossed the Naihe Bridge and been reborn. I couldn’t even see him one last time.”
Xi Shuang cried and laughed, “I’m a fool, I missed so many thing. I’m unworthy of him and my nanny.”
“No, it’s not too late.”
Yan Shixun said. “As long as you go there too, the road of souls coming and going, destined souls will always meet.”
“Heaven and earth may be indifferent, but they always leave a glimmer of hope for people. Xi Shuang, perhaps when you step into another world, you will discover that the person who loves you has always been patiently waiting for you, unbeknownst to you.”
“As long as you nod…”
Yan Shixun walked steadily, and his slender hand extended towards Xi Shuang, making an inviting gesture. “The light of the entire world will open its doors to you.”
There was something on that hand.
It was a beautifully crafted lipstick lying quietly in Yan Shixun’s hand.
It was the lipstick he had seen in a hallucination in Bai Shuang’s room, the one he took from Bai Shuang’s dressing table, the one Xi Shuang had gazed at for a long time when she possessed Bai Shuang.
“Your lipstick case is already quite old. It’s time for a new one,” Yan Shixun lowered his voice, gentle yet resolute. “The color of this one will suit you well, I’ll have your name written on it. Xi Shuang, don’t wait any longer, and don’t hesitate or be timid. Go forth with a smile to embrace your new life. You will, like Bai Shuang and the girls of this era, welcome your new happiness.”
Tears welled up in Xi Shuang’s eyes, but she smiled.
She extended her delicate hand, trembling as she reached out towards Yan Shixun. Then, slowly but firmly, she grasped Yan Shixun’s hand, along with the lipstick.
“Okay.”
The moment Xi Shuang’s words fell, a deafening and colossal cracking sound erupted from beneath her feet. It rapidly spread from her location towards the mansion and the Ghost Mountain, echoing throughout the haunted mountain that had been trapped between the realms of the living and the dead for a century.
Yan Shixun’s sharp brows softened as he smiled and offered his blessings to Xi Shuang.
He watched her on her final journey.
“If the Yama of the underworld have any sympathy, perhaps you might be reborn earlier than expected. When that time comes, if you happen to meet me in the mortal realm, remember to tell me that you’re doing well.”
“It’s time to go, Xi Shuang.”
“Goodbye.”
With a smile in her eyes, Xi Shuang slightly bowed to express her gratitude. “I will remember. Mr. Yan, goodbye.”
From the distant void, there was an eerie and inhuman voice that drifted through the air.
The Yin officials did their duty and brought the fierce ghost Xi Shuang to the front hall to question her.
Living people, make way—!
Xi Shuang gave one last glance to Yan Shixun and the crew, then turned around with a smile. Holding the gifts given to her by Yan Shixun and Bai Shuang, she finally overcame her fear, summoned her courage, and took a step forward.
Her figure gradually faded in Yan Shixun’s view, growing more distant until she could no longer be seen…
As the obsession dissipated, illusions collapsed, and the resentment that had formed the prison turned into hopeful anticipation of rebirth.
Together with the prison, the villa and the entire Ghost Mountain collapsed.
A tremendous roar echoed in everyone’s ears, one after another.
Rocks fell, walls crumbled, and the terrifying scene of destruction unfolded before everyone as if the sky and earth were collapsing.
However, amidst the cries of astonishment, Yan Shixun’s tall figure stood still in place, like an unyielding pine tree on a mountaintop.
The raging winds whipped up his hair and the hem of his clothes. He turned his gaze slightly and looked at the people behind him.
“Let’s go, the Gui Mountain that you were originally supposed to visit is right before your eyes.”
With Yan Shixun’s words, there was a deafening crash “Boom!”
Before the crowd could react, they suddenly felt everything go dark in front of them. Many of them instinctively closed their eyes out of fear.
Without waiting for them to open their eyes, they could already smell the fresh scent of vegetation in the forest, and they heard the chirping of birds and the buzzing of insects. It felt like a gentle breeze was caressing their faces. The weather was pleasant.
It was a scene teeming with life.
The members of the production team cautiously opened their eyes, only to realize that they were no longer in the mansion they had been in before.
Instead, they found themselves standing in a picturesque forest.
The sky was vast, and there was not a cloud in sight.
Under the sun, everything was clear.
The members of the production team stood there in stunned silence for a while before gradually realizing that it must have been something Yan Shixun had done that allowed them to escape from the eerie mansion after the female ghost, Xi Shuang, was reincarnated, bringing them to this safe place.
Zhang Wubing, who was experienced in surviving life-threatening situations, was the first to grasp the situation.
He looked around and choked up like a pitiful puppy. “Gui Mountain, Ghost Mountain, one letter’s difference… My travel variety show, waaah!”
Yan Shixun glanced at Zhang Wubing with compassion, then raised his hand to pat the back of Zhang Wubing’s head gently. “Xiao Bing, I think with your constitution, you might not be cut out for being a director, especially a variety show director. After all this, I doubt there will be any fearless guests willing to come on your show. Are you still planning to continue with it?”
Zhang Wubing cried even louder.
Just as the crew members were confirming everything in disbelief, there suddenly came a rustling sound from the trees in the forest.
The people who had just escaped danger a few seconds ago hadn’t fully relaxed yet. They immediately picked up dry branches from the ground and aimed them at the source of the sound. They were prepared in case those blood-red creatures appeared before them again, trying to stop them from descending the mountain, just like they had blocked the unfortunate male actor earlier.
Only Yan Shixun seemed as if he had expected who was coming, remaining calm and composed.
After the noise, an old Taoist emerged from the forest like a gust of wind.
With white hair and a righteous Taoist robe, he exuded an air of solemnity that made ghosts and monsters hesitate to approach.
Upon seeing the group, the old Taoist priest was even more astonished than they were.
“It’s actually you guys! I thought it was…”
“Wait a minute.” The old Taoist was puzzled. “How did you all come out of the Ghost Mountain?”
The crew members exchanged glances, not knowing what to say, and instinctively turned to their leader.
They all looked at Yan Shixun in unison.
The old Taoist subconsciously examined him and, after seeing Yan Shixun’s face reading clearly, he was shocked. “Gou Dan’s disciple!”
Yan Shixun: “…”
If you love what Ciacia is doing, then consider showing your support by supporting a cup of tea for her at Kofi. If you can’t wait for the next release chapter, subscribe to advanced chapters membership on her Kofi to get access to up to 10 chapters!
<Previous Chapter<Table of Contents>Next Chapter>
Thanks for the update