Chapter 413: Chapter 352: Reverse Copying of Sutras
But the middle-aged man in front of them was clearly not easy to fool, having dealt with Cheng Cha, he turned his gaze to Yang Xiao again, "Did you come around here last night?"
"How would I know?" Yang Xiao’s attitude also started to become impatient, "It was so dark, and the area was full of fog, we were being chased, who knows where we ran off to."
Yang Xiao understood that this was another probe by the man. To say they had been here would invite questions about why, but to say they hadn’t seemed too deliberate. So, the best answer was to feign ignorance.
With Du San, the only person who might know the truth, now dead, as long as they insisted on knowing nothing, there would be no proof against them, and the Du Family Villagers couldn’t do anything to them.
As expected, the middle-aged man didn’t gain anything from several more questions and, after placating Yang Xiao and the others, let them leave.
On the way back, Xiao Zui was still in a daze, seemingly unable to recover from the bloody scene, "Miss Xiao Zui, who was that man just now? Why haven’t we ever seen him before?" Sui Chengguo asked.
After a long while, Xiao Zui didn’t respond, and Cheng Cha couldn’t help but remind her, "Miss Xiao Zui?"
"Ah?" Coming to her senses, Xiao Zui swallowed and carefully explained to everyone that the man was named Du Huai, responsible for the Du Family Village’s ceremonies, and was the second most important person in the village right after the patriarch.
"No wonder, Brother Du Huai has such an imposing aura," Cheng Cha said with a smile, "By the way, which ’Huai’ is Brother Du Huai’s ’Huai’?"
"It’s...it’s the Huai of the Huai tree," Xiao Zui explained.
On their way back, Yang Xiao and the others tried several times to extract clues from Xiao Zui, but unfortunately, due to her low status in the village, and possibly because she was on guard, concealing herself from them, they didn’t get much useful information.
Having returned to their room and closed the door, once they confirmed Xiao Zui had left, the group gathered to discuss. Cheng Cha was the first to speak, "There’s something off about this Du Huai. The character ’Huai’ echoes with the yin, which most people can’t contain. As the chief priest of the village, one is already prone to disturbances by fate, yet he dares to use the single name ’Huai.’ He’s either an idiot or has deep cultivation."
Yang Xiao had met Du Huai, who was clear-headed and adept at managing affairs, not at all like an idiot. In the Du Family Villagers who devoured without spitting out bones, one couldn’t rise to the second highest rank without some real capability.
Yang Xiao had a feeling that he would inevitably have dealings with this man in the future. If he had the chance, he would take him down too.
After lunch, Yang Xiao and his companions took some time to rest. Before long, Xiao Zui hurried over, saying that the patriarch wanted to see them and specifically asked them to bring Tong Han and Mi Shu along.
"What does he want us to do?" Tong Han frowned, as Liu Haiping’s earlier encounter made her wary.
"I don’t know, I’m just a servant," Xiao Zui said pitifully, appearing as if she had not yet recovered from the tragic scene at Du San’s house during the day.
The group followed Xiao Zui to the ancestral hall, and before they even entered, they heard the sound of wailing from inside. The wailing was extremely shrill and piercing, coming from a woman who seemed to be quite old.
Tong Han and Mi Shu, who had followed, recognized the wailing as somewhat familiar. As Xiao Zui stepped forward to push open the half-closed courtyard door, they could see that the inside was already crowded with people.
There were at least dozens of them, the hall was in disarray, and through the gaps between people, one could see someone lying on the floor of the ancestral hall, covered with a thick quilt, and a woman weeping on top of it. The Du Family Patriarch and Du Huai, whom they had seen in the morning, were both present.
Seeing this scene, Yang Xiao had a rough idea of what had happened—clearly, another selection ceremony had just been held, and the next unfortunate one had been chosen.
The one fainting on the ground was that person, who seemed to have a significant status in the Du Family Village, so even though they hadn’t selected someone from around, they dared not show their joy of survival; after all, when Uncle Du Er was chosen last time, the villagers almost celebrated with fireworks.
As soon as people saw Yang Xiao and his group arrive, they immediately started clamoring, and the villagers consciously cleared a path for them to enter the ancestral hall.
As they got closer, they realized that the person lying on the ground was the wife of the Du Family Patriarch. At that moment, she was pale, her breathing very weak, and if not for the continuous movement of her eyeballs beneath her tightly closed eyelids, Yang Xiao and his companions would suspect she was dead.
Under the arrangement of Patriarch Du, the rest of the villagers dispersed, leaving only Yang Xiao and his group, along with the Patriarch, Du Huai, the Lady Du lying on the ground, and finally, the female housekeeper who was crying on Lady Du’s body.
Seeing this female housekeeper, Tong Han Mishu couldn’t help but feel disgusted, as the previous eerie experiences came to her mind.
"Patriarch, how is the old lady?" Yang Xiao asked as usual.
Patriarch Du’s eyes were red, and his lips trembled without being able to utter a word. In the end, he just waved his hand, indicating that Du Huai should speak for him.
"The old lady was devout in her fasting and praying, kind-hearted, it’s probably for this reason that she has incurred the jealousy of the demon monk who has been haunting her," Du Huai talked nonsense with a serious face. "Today, we’ve summoned you all to discuss ways to deal with the demon monk."
Although his words were courteous, Du Huai then called to the female housekeeper weeping over the old lady, asking her to repeat what the old lady had said before.
While wiping her tears, the housekeeper couldn’t take her eyes off Tong Han and Mi Shu, "The old lady said, she feels a karmic connection with the two young ladies, is very fond of you, and has always wanted to take the opportunity to adopt you as her goddaughters."
Normally, this was the time when Tong Han Mishu should have said something polite in response, but they already sensed danger and thus remained silent.
Seeing that no one was playing along, the female housekeeper had no choice but to continue, speaking boldly, "The old lady has a predestined affinity with you two. Now that the old lady is in trouble, she hopes that you will both assist her with all your might and not refuse. Next, I need to choose one of you as the vessel of the old lady’s blessings. Don’t worry, as long as the old lady turns peril into safety, we’ll give you whatever you want from the Du Family Village!"
"The vessel of blessings only needs to do one simple thing, which is to come to the temple alone at night and copy some Buddhist scriptures for the old lady who is troubled by ghosts. This is also considered a meritorious deed."
"Who among you... who wants this immense merit?" asked the female housekeeper, her eyes wide open.
Mi Shu looked down at the tips of her shoes, while Tong Han raised her head, her gaze slanting upwards towards the Buddha statue in the temple, completely ignoring the housekeeper.
The awkward moment persisted for a full ten seconds. Finally, unable to bear it any longer, the female housekeeper stepped forward, studied Tong Han Mishu carefully, and suddenly, upon seeing the bandaged wound on Tong Han’s right hand, her brows furrowed sharply. She then turned toward Mi Shu, and after a moment, grabbed her hand, her face revealing uncontrollable madness, "You, it’ll be you!"
"I can’t read!" Mi Shu tried to grasp a sliver of hope for survival, understanding that what awaited her in the temple tonight was most likely the Du Family’s assassin. They wanted to find a scapegoat for the old lady, and they were after her body.
But the stout female housekeeper was unmoved, "Not being able to read doesn’t matter. The Buddhist scriptures have the words on them; you just need to trace over them."
Mi Shu wrestled her hand free from the housekeeper, but the matter was settled. Then, Du Huai began to speak of the old lady’s delirious mutterings during her coma.
It was related to the task of the night.
Apart from Mi Shu, they had to select three more people to leave the family home after the Third Watch of the Night and go to the Du Family Ancestral Hall to copy scriptures.
However, there were specific requirements: the scriptures had to be copied in reverse.
"Reverse copying of sutras?" Lu Youcheng was taken aback. With his experience, he knew something of the grave implications. Reversing the text of sutras is considered an act that ruins merit, especially with certain special sutras. Inadvertent errors might be forgivable, but deliberate actions, it is said, could have unpredictable consequences.
It seemed that this was the night’s task. There were several other stipulations; first, they could not choose any of the participants from last night, which practically limited the options. Yang Xiao and Cheng Cha Tong Han were excluded, and Mi Shu, who was to stay in the family temple to recite prayers and blessings, was also excluded. This left only Sui Chengguo, Lu Youcheng, Wuma Haoming, and Quan Doufeng.
From these four, they had to select three to participate in tonight’s scripture copying. Yang Xiao could almost predict that it would be a fierce battle, and they might lose many hands.
After they had processed the current information, Du Huai’s expression grew stern, and his voice lowered, "There’s one more thing I have to tell you; your remaining opportunities are few. Including today, you only have two chances left. This is also your only opportunity to break the curse of the cycle. Otherwise, you will have to enter the next cycle with us."
When Du Huai spoke about joining "us," he enunciated heavily, as if there were some hint or threat. Yang Xiao and the rest pretended not to understand, although everyone knew, that if the task failed and they were rendered useless, the people of Du Family Village would not hesitate to kill them all and seize their bodies for themselves.
