It was a boring, cliche story.

A swindling charlatan pretending to be involved with the supernatural raised an excellent daughter who was incompatible with her mother.

The daughter was beautiful, intelligent, and had excellent grades. However, the mother always made her playact with her, claiming that her daughter was born to be a “witch.” For this reason, the daughter was bullied and discriminated against since she was a child. She hated it all so much that she even cut ties with her mother. As a result, the daughter completely separated from her mother after graduating university.

Then, the daughter fell in love with a wealthy young man. This love she had never felt before completely confused her mind. She was so deeply in love with him. But then, after many years of dating, the man abandoned this woman from a poor background and chose to marry a well-matched daughter from a wealthy family.

But the daughter was already pregnant with the man’s child.

She chose to give birth to the child named “Li Yu.”

“…..After Li Yu was born, Li Xuelin raised him independently. She occasionally contacted your grandmother during this period, but they parted ways on bad terms. It wasn’t until six years later that Li Xuelin was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Perhaps it was because she had a bad relationship with your grandmother, or perhaps because she worried that your grandmother wouldn’t be able to raise her child well, she chose to let Li Yu return to his father’s family.”

“The Xiao family,” Li Xiu whispered, not waiting for Teacher Xu to continue speaking.

Teacher Xu nodded with a sigh.

The man who had loved Li Xuelin for many years and then abandoned her was the popular young heir to the Xiao family back then.

Although already married, Xiao Weisi had no other children at the time.

From Li Xuelin’s point of view, with the astonishing wealth of the Xiao family, there would be no problem raising an illegitimate child.

She never would have expected that the Xiao family residence was certainly not a good place for such an innocent child with the Xiao family blood flowing through his veins.

“The Xiao family’s prosperity was very ‘unclean.’”

Teacher Xu’s narration echoed in the bright, clean ward.

“…..The earliest records can be traced back to the Qing Dynasty. The ancestors of the Xiao family happened to obtain a small red door, with ‘that thing’ sealed inside of it.”

“No one knows which great power sealed it within the door, nor do they know its true name. In the places where ‘He’ appeared, people generally called him ‘Lord Hong.’ He was extremely dangerous, as well as abnormally powerful. Even when he was sealed, he had the magical powers to fulfill the wishes of the Xiao family generation after generation. Relying on the power of what was sealed behind that door, the Xiao family escaped countless natural and manmade disasters throughout history, and the entire family became the richest in the country. However, the blessings from the red door were not free.”

“The Xiao family soon discovered that they must give back as much as they received.….”

“By the time of Xiao Weisi’s generation, the Xiao family had to use their own flesh and blood as a sacrifice to just barely suppress its backlash.”

Upon hearing this, Li Xiu could pretty much guess the rest of the story. His face instantly paled.

Teacher Xu shot a glance at him and continued.

“Karma brought great retribution. As the Xiao family became increasingly prosperous, it became increasingly difficult for their children to reproduce. This generation of the Xiao family had only two living children left. Xiao Weisi’s sister must have sensed something of the dark side of the family. Thus, she eloped with someone just after she came of age, and no news was heard of her again. And the eldest son, Xiao Weisi, was never able to successfully produce a child.”

“But Li Yu returned home.”

“Indeed. Then Li Xuelin sent Li Yu back.”

“Doesn’t the saying go that a tiger, though cruel, will not devour its cubs? Wasn’t Li Yu that man’s only child? Why…..why did he…..”

Even though he knew everything had already come to pass, Li Xiu still felt that it was unbelievable.

“A man doesn’t give birth to a new life on his own,” Teacher Xu said lightly. “What’s more, under the influence of substantial financial interests and the threat of death, not everyone has the courage to sacrifice themself.”

Li Xiu’s lips moved slightly for a moment.

He thought of everything Fang Qian’an had done in that dark otherworld.

Teacher Xu looked at Li Xiu tenderly: “You are a very good child, and so is Classmate Fang. But for a family such as the Xiao family, which was accustomed to obtaining everything through illegitimate means, it was impossible for them to possess courage like the two of you.”

As long as they worshiped, they could obtain glory and wealth such as others could never achieve in a lifetime. And so what if the one used as a sacrifice was their own child?

As long as it wasn’t them, it was fine.

After a brief silence, Li Xiu’s question sounded in the ward: “What happened then?”

The youth’s face was pale, but his eyes were steady and entirely unwavering.

He revealed a calmness and determination beyond his years: “Since the Xiao family met their fate later, something had to have gone wrong, right?”

Teacher Xu couldn’t help but give Li Xiu a look of approval. When he spoke again, his voice was heavier than ever before.

“You’re very bright,” he said. “Indeed, there was a sizable problem with the Xiao family’s living sacrifice. Because……”

Because when Li Yu was sent back to the Xiao family, the mistress of the family at that time was unaware of this cruel imperative. That arrogant and indulgent daughter of a wealthy family who was born with a silver spoon in her mouth only felt that she had suffered an intolerable betrayal. And her husband’s vague explanation and determination to take the child back at all costs caused her resentment to swell to the extreme. She began to think of every possible way to abuse this illegitimate child a female lover had forced into the Xiao family residence. But at that time, the Xiao family had made no living sacrifices to the red door in a long time. A large number of business problems occurred, and Xiao Weisi was too busy focusing on himself to care about this child who was destined for an early death.

“……Li Yu was sent to the hospital due to severe abuse before the scheduled time of sacrifice, and died from his injuries.”

He didn’t know if it was his imagination, but when Li Xiu heard this, he once again felt a vague and indistinct coldness.

He couldn’t help but give Teacher Xu a careful glance, but the other party revealed no abnormalities.

“Everyone who participated in the human sacrifice back then is dead, and we can only guess what happened. If our supposition is correct, the Xiao family, who were completely at their wits’ end, used Li Yu’s body as a sacrifice.” Teacher Xu pushed up his glasses, saying, “Although theoretically, even using a corpse as a sacrifice wouldn’t result in such a large incident later, you know the end result. The severe backlash caused the red door to open. After Lord Hong walked through that door, the strong yin qi caused the Xiao family tragedy and alerted, well, people like us.”

Li Xiu’s fingertips curled into the quilt.

“We expended much effort to seal that thing back into the red door. However, Li Yu’s body and soul had been thoroughly contaminated by ‘Lord Hong’ and couldn’t be saved. In order to prevent the red door from opening again, or perhaps being taken away by someone with good intentions, only to result in another tragedy, we suppressed Li Yu’s body inside the Xiao Family Villa and sealed the red door under the foundation of the complex…..it was supposed to be a foolproof seal.”

“So what went wrong?”

“Well……”

Teacher Xu’s voice gradually became dry. He removed his glasses and wiped them.

“At that time, the thing inside the red door was too fierce. My sect was short of manpower, so as a last resort, I invited several local Daoist brothers to help out. Your grandmother also came.”

Hearing this, Li Xiu raised his head abruptly and stared at Teacher Xu in disbelief.

Teacher Xu didn’t avoid his gaze.

“This matter was a grave mistake on our part. Your grandmother used some sort of special technique to determine Li Yu’s identity. Li Xuelin had already passed away by then. As an elderly person, there was really no way for her to accept that her own grandson had been suppressed and lost beneath an array, so……so she……stole Li Yu’s ashes.”

*

Twelve years ago—

“Grandmother Qi, are you here to watch?”

A strongly-accented question rang out, but the old woman ignored the man beside her.

Seeing the old woman’s indifference, the man frowned and couldn’t help but try to persuade her several times.

“Aiyo, I’ve also got nothing better to do than than tell you this. Everyone in that villa is a capable person. We were only called here for show. You old woman with your old arms and legs, don’t go forward if you see something. There’s no need.”

It was late at night.

The night breeze brought the faint sound of chanting from nearby. A spiritual master from a famous sect with roots in Miaohong was casting spells inside the villa. The thick odor of cinnabar, blood, and incense ash mixed in the air, making one feel suffocated just by breathing it in.

Indeed, as the man had just called attention to, they were just waiting around. At most, they would simply walk around the villa’s gardens and patrol all night. They weren’t qualified to go farther inside. Naturally, this was for their own good. After all, even countryside practitioners like them could vaguely sense that something in the villa was abnormal.

In the dark night, the old woman slowly blinked her reddened eyes.

Her companion wasn’t like her, and couldn’t see it.

Just beside the wall, a familiar yet unfamiliar form covered her face, weeping with grief and despair.

[“Mama…..Mom…..I’m so sorry…..wuwuwuwuwu…..Mama, save my cub…..”]

[“Mama…..I’ll listen to you from now on…..just save him this time…..”]

[“Mama…..Mama…..”]

As she listened to the increasingly passionate mantra behind her, the old woman’s hands began to shake violently.

In a trance, she seemed to see a small red door appearing behind her daughter’s ghost.

Her withered lips moved, and a hoarse whisper stuck in her throat.

But she knew better than anyone that the thing inside the door could hear it.

It could hear her appeal.

Yes. She understood. There was a price to pay for wishing such a thing.

But she had nothing left.

What was there for her to still worry about?

There seemed to be a voice, whispering to her from inside the door.

---

Consider donating via Kofi here.

Chapter 46 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 48