The Zhang family was originally a moderately wealthy merchant family in the prefectural city, selling silk and cloth garments within the city.
They even had a hand in the cloth trade of the towns and villages outside the prefectural city.
Half a year ago, the Zhang family’s eldest son, Zhang Fusheng, participated in the prefectural examination and achieved the top score, becoming a Xiucai (scholar) of Jingtai Prefecture.
This brought the Zhang family immense, unprecedented prestige for a time. However, the Zhang family was unaware that this very event had also invited a catastrophic disaster upon them.
This was because another participant in the same prefectural examination was Xiao Chenliang, the third son of the Jingtai Prefecture’s Magistrate.
Before the examination even began, Xiao Chenliang had already sent people to warn all the candidates.
He declared that he was the only one qualified to become this session’s Xiucai of Jingtai Prefecture.
If anyone dared to defy his command, there would be only one outcome: death.
As it turned out, Zhang Fusheng, having barely held the title of Xiucai for less than half a year, had already met with a fate where his family was ruined and scattered.
Of course, this was only one reason. Another reason was the Zhang family’s daughter, Zhang Yingxue.
It was said that Xiao Chenliang had once taken a liking to Zhang Yingxue and wanted to take her as a concubine, but Zhang Yingxue rejected him.
Zhang Yingxue even explicitly stated that she already had someone in her heart: Wei Zhize, the son of the Wei family, who was her childhood sweetheart.
However, after Xiao Chenliang made his threats public, the entire Wei family, old and young alike, fled the prefectural city completely.
Zhang Yingxue’s hoped-for beloved, Wei Zhichen, vanished without a trace, leaving not even a single word behind.
…………
After hearing all this, Lu Xuan’s furrowed brow relaxed, and he prepared to get up and leave.
It seemed the source of the Yin energy was most likely at that Zhang Family Mansion.
In the southern part of the city, there was an area where people congregated, surrounded by various types of mansion buildings.
Yet, in this district filled with residences, one particular main street was desolate and devoid of people, appearing exceptionally bleak.
The reason was simple: at the center of this street stood a large mansion.
Hanging askew on the door lintel of this large mansion was a plaque, inscribed with two large characters: “Zhang Family.”
Standing outside the gate of the Zhang mansion was a middle-aged man, around thirty-something years old.
The man was dressed in a short black robe and held a large blade in his hand.
However, this man guarding the Zhang mansion looked utterly idle and nonchalant.
He pressed the tip of his blade against the ground, leaning his body against the flat side of the blade, as if trying to use the hard steel for support to stand more comfortably.
The middle-aged man glanced around the empty street, feeling utterly bored.
Then, he started cursing under his breath.
“Pfft, what rotten luck!”
“I wonder how much longer I have to stick with this damn assignment.”
“When are Brother Li and the others coming back? I’m starving to death.”
After cursing quietly, the man suddenly recalled something pleasant, and a lecherous smirk appeared on his face.
“But then again, that crazy woman Zhang Yingxue does have a unique flavor, doesn’t she?”
“Truly a well-bred young lady, the Zhang family’s precious daughter, with such smooth, delicate skin.”
“Thanks to Young Master Xiao’s generosity, us lowlifes get to enjoy a beauty like that.”
“Such a shame, though, before we could really have our fill, that crazy woman went and ruined her face.”
“Otherwise, I’d go find her for some fun right now.”
Just as the man was reminiscing about what had transpired with that graceful figure,
Smack, smack, smack!
From inside the Zhang mansion came the sound of something striking a hard object, one after another.
Hearing these noises, the man quickly grabbed the knife that was propped on the ground.
“Huh?”
“Didn’t I tie that crazy woman up?”
“Why are there still noises coming from inside?”
“Could it be that I didn’t tie her tight enough, and that crazy woman managed to break free?”
Considering this possibility, the man quickly ran towards the interior of the Zhang mansion.
He had tied up that crazy woman Zhang Yingxue just to get some fresh air outside.
Now, if Zhang Yingxue had broken free, who knew what kind of insane things she might do.
Young Master Xiao had instructed that before he had his fill of tormenting her, Zhang Yingxue absolutely must not die.
Because Xiao Chenliang wanted to plunge Zhang Yingxue into the agonies of despair.
He wanted her to understand the consequences of defying him back then.
This utterly inhumane method of Xiao Chenliang’s made even the Black Eagle Gang, known for killing without blinking, feel terrified.
The man jogged all the way to the place where Zhang Yingxue was imprisoned.
It was the courtyard of the Zhang family’s ancestral hall.
In the courtyard stood a woman draped in tattered red garments, her hair matted with dirt and tangled messily over her shoulders.
The woman had her back to the main gate, staring at the altar table placed in the center of the courtyard.
But what was truly suffocating was what was on that altar table before her.
Placed there were not the usual ancestral tablets, but a dozen or so objects resembling round balls.
These round objects were still attached to clumps of hair, though the hair had been stained a dark, blackish color.
They appeared to be dried, clotted blood!
That was it – they were the severed heads of the Zhang family members, the ones dearest to Zhang Yingxue.
The heads Zhang Yingxue had to face every day belonged to the people she loved most.
Earlier, when that man had walked in from outside the courtyard gate,
Seeing Zhang Yingxue standing there dumbly, the anxiety and unease in his heart finally subsided.
Then, cursing and grumbling, the man walked towards Zhang Yingxue.
“Damn it, you crazy bitch, you actually managed to wiggle free.”
When he was less than half a meter away from Zhang Yingxue, a vicious glint flashed in the man’s eyes, and he directly raised his right foot to kick her.
“This is what happens to your Zhang family for defying Young Master Xiao’s orders!”
However, as the man kicked out, it felt as if there was no resistance at all.
His right foot simply passed straight through Zhang Yingxue’s body.
“Th-this, this, this… y-you…”
Seeing this happen, the man’s mind went completely blank in an instant, and his body stiffened.
A chilling, cold breeze swept by, gently lifting the tattered red dress draped over Zhang Yingxue.
The sight beneath the red skirt reflected deep within the man’s pupils.
It was a skeleton!
Zhang Yingxue’s body had turned into a skeleton?
She had become a ghost?
This was the final thought that crossed the man’s mind!
Because the Zhang Yingxue in his line of sight was slowly turning her head towards him – turning it a full one hundred and eighty degrees.
Zhang Yingxue’s terrifying visage made the man’s hair stand on end, a faint chill racing from the soles of his feet straight to the crown of his head.
It was a ghastly pale, expressionless face, densely covered with web-like scars, her eyes rolled back, completely white like dead fish eyes.
“Ghost!”
“Hel-…”
Before the man could finish his cry, his body began to rapidly decay, even in broad daylight.
Finally, he dissolved into a pile of white ash and bone dust, scattering onto the ground.
“Where did Zhou Yifei go??”
“That bastard, didn’t he just tell us he’d be waiting for us at the mansion gate?”
“He’s probably still guarding that woman Zhang Yingxue. Come on, let’s go inside and check.”
Just then, four more figures appeared outside the courtyard.
They were precisely the people Lu Xuan had encountered earlier at the inn.
