Chapter 083: The Grudge of Creation

I had no strength. It was a helplessness, a helplessness that rose from the very marrow of my bones.
With a trembling voice, Song Baoguo recounted the despair of those years.

He lay limp in a field of blood, surrounded by the bones of his fallen comrades, and there was nothing he could do.

He could not even bring himself to end his own life.

That eerie woman came toward him, step by step.

As she drew nearer and nearer, Song Baoguo clearly saw that she was carrying a bloody human head in her hand.

Its eyes were bloodshot, bulging wide and rolled upward; its mouth hung open, its face twisted beyond recognition.

Song Baoguo recognized it at once. It was his sworn brother, Wang Sheng.

The woman came closer and closer until she stood before him.

Then she crouched down and brought Wang Sheng's severed head up before Song Baoguo.

Suddenly, Song Baoguo saw the head begin to move.

Wang Sheng stared at him with vicious fury, his mouth opening and closing.

"Why... why did you betray us..."

"I will not let you go, even in death..."

The head opened its mouth wide, trying to bite Song Baoguo's neck. Song Baoguo was frozen in terror, too frightened to move an inch.

It was the woman who drew Wang Sheng's head away. Then she leaned close to Song Baoguo and said with a mocking smile, "Today I spare your life. One day, your descendants will pay it back in your stead."

With a flick of her hand, Song Baoguo's vision went black, and he passed out again.

When he awoke once more, seven days had already passed. He had been rescued by Gu Dongfeng, who happened to be passing by.

Of the group that had gone with Wang Sheng, all had died except Song Baoguo himself, and Wang Sheng's head was nowhere to be found.

With Gu Dongfeng's help, Song Baoguo buried every one of the bodies properly. But the war was still raging, and the enemy was still active elsewhere.

They could not remain and continue searching for Wang Sheng's head. Song Baoguo understood that the best way to avenge everyone was to bring down the enemy.

From that day on, he stayed by Gu Dongfeng's side.

Yet what had happened that day remained a knot in his heart.

He told Gu Dongfeng everything, and Gu Dongfeng tried to comfort him.

He told him not to think too much for the time being, saying that once some ragged little brat returned, he would be able to help Song Baoguo.

Unfortunately, later on, because of another mission, Song Baoguo and Gu Dongfeng were separated, and he never did wait for the brat Gu Dongfeng had spoken of.

One never knows what tomorrow will bring, and I know very well that the ragged little brat Gu Dongfeng mentioned was my grandfather.

If Song Baoguo had waited for my grandfather back then, perhaps things would not have come to this.

When the war on the mainland ended in a sweeping victory, Song Baoguo had barely had time to catch his breath before he was sent again to the battlefield of the Korean War.

After countless baptisms of blood and fire, Song Baoguo became a true hero. Yet even heroes carry a lingering regret in their hearts.

Though he had regret, life still went on.

He married and had children. When his eldest son was born, Song Baoguo still often had nightmares, dreaming of what that woman had said to him that day.

But later, as his eldest son grew up healthy and strong, Song Baoguo came to think that woman had merely been putting on tricks to frighten him, and he did not dwell on it further.

Until Song Chao was born, and the nightmare from that day once again pierced Song Baoguo's heart.

Looking at the iron bucket as it began to bubble, Song Baoguo finally said, "After all these decades... is it really my Chao'er who must take my place?"

I did not answer him. Instead, I walked to the bucket and reached out to test the temperature of the water.

"Uncle Song, it's about ready. You can carry Song Chao into the water now."

At this point, Song Baoguo had no choice but to do as I said.

He got in first. Though the temperature was suitable, the bottom of the iron bucket was still a little hot underfoot.

When I handed Song Chao to Song Baoguo, and father and son soaked together in the bucket, Song Baoguo's entire expression changed.

At first he had merely found the water a bit hot on his feet, but now he was shivering violently, and when he opened his mouth, a visible plume of breath came out.

"So... so cold..."

This was only natural. Song Chao was now a body of the utmost yin and extreme cold.

At this moment, Song Chao's flesh was occupied by resentful energy, and before it could be fully replaced, we had to boil it together with this fire made from lychee branches and several pure-yang ingredients.

That would drive the resentful energy out of Song Chao's body.

Resentful energy is different from a vengeful spirit. In plain terms, it is merely an obsession.

Once it leaves the body, it will immediately seek out someone nearby to bear it.

If we seize the chance to scatter it then, this debt of the dead can be ended.

I walked to the edge of the bucket and looked at Song Baoguo, who was trembling all over, and at Song Chao, whose body was already half submerged in the water.

I said, "Uncle Song, endure it for a while. The temperature will rise slowly."

After speaking, I added the most important ingredient to the water: my blood.

Ordinary yang blood could serve as a substitute too, but none of them would work as well as mine. After all, I was born with exceptionally strong yang energy.

Though Song Baoguo did not understand why I was doing this, he could indeed feel that the water was no longer as cold as before.

"When the time comes, will my Chao'er really be all right?"

I nodded and said with complete certainty, "He will be."

Seven sticks of incense. One stick of incense equaled one watch of the night, seven watches, fourteen hours.

While Song Baoguo soaked in the water, I did not idle. I was making preparations for three days later.

From Song Baoguo's recollection, the woman he saw back then must have been from the Golden Cicada Society.

Now, the clues that Wang Zihai and I had uncovered pointed to the same thing: the human traffickers who would target Song Chao three days later were also members of the Golden Cicada Society.

When I put the two together, I truly found a reason that linked these events.

In the methods of the Wild Maoshan tradition, there is a recorded evil technique that uses karmic debt to raise the living from childhood as if they were malignant entities.

This method is called the Birth-Resentment Formation. Wherever a Birth-Resentment appears, people and livestock alike decline. If you encounter one, you must flee at once; if you cannot get away, prepare for your own funeral.

What makes the Birth-Resentment so terrifying is that such a creature cannot even truly be called a malign spirit, because it is a living person, a living person whose body is occupied by resentful energy.

Only, such a person has been fed from childhood with the most yin and sinister substances.

With the evil aura added to his own resentment, he becomes a person of great calamity. He does not need to do anything special.

Aside from the caster, as long as he stands still, every living thing within thirty feet of him will immediately be struck by bad luck.

At the lightest, one falls gravely ill; at the middle level, one loses limbs; at the worst, one loses one's life.

Ordinarily, the caster keeps the Birth-Resentment in a black iron house.

The house has no windows and no lamps, only one door. Its iron walls must be covered with four hundred and ninety sealing talismans to suppress the Birth-Resentment's power.

When needed, the caster only has to tell the Birth-Resentment who the target is, and the Birth-Resentment simply follows the target.

I once heard my grandfather say that during the Republican era, there was a man who created a Birth-Resentment and used its power to help wealthy gentry and magnates eliminate rivals for his own gain.

My grandfather said the way to destroy a Birth-Resentment was simple: cut off its head, and the spell would break.

But a Birth-Resentment is a living person, and murder is against the law. By exploiting the rules, the Birth-Resentment becomes a truly monstrous thing, nearly impossible to unravel.

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Chapter 83: Birth-Resentment, free to read.