Chapter Forty-six Heterogeneous

  A figure appeared at the entrance of the cave, with a slender build, poor and tattered clothing, and a kind and gentle face.

  Grandma Li! It's really her!

  Why did she come as soon as he called? Is Guanyin, the Bodhisattva of mercy, a person with supernatural powers? Or does she have some connection to this secret?

  "Ah!" As soon as she entered the cave, her eyes fell on the human head in the flower pot, and she let out a low, soft cry, tears welling up in her eyes.

  Chui Meng stopped shouting and perked up his ears to listen. "Dad?" He suddenly chuckled, "It's Dad!"

  Yan Feng was taken aback, looking at this seemingly kind old man. Was it really "her" who had personally brewed up this series of tragedies? Then why did "she" want to remind him and tell him that this was a "one on top of another" human chain?

  And is it "she" or "he"? Obviously an old woman, why does Cui Meng want to call her "dad"?

  "I was born with a masculine appearance, and even my voice sounds like a woman's. It must be due to some innate peculiarity of mine." Old Lady Li faced Yan Feng's puzzlement, explaining with a bitter smile, "After doing that thing, in order to prevent people from recognizing me, I had no choice but to disguise myself as an old lady."

  Then, he faced the flower pot, "Meng, you forgot what your father told you?" He walked forward, stretched out his hand and gently stroked Cui Meng's severed head, helping to wipe away the blood flowing from his seven orifices. "Deepening my sin is nothing, after all, I did evil for personal reasons. But why did you force yourself into a dead end? Meng, you child――"

  "Why did you ruin me?" The old man's words were not yet finished, when Cui Meng shouted again, already on the verge of madness. He had endured for many years, wanting to start anew, but was ruined by Wula. Afterwards, he plotted and schemed, wanting to gain a new life. For this matter, he exhausted all his tricks, but ultimately still failed due to one mistake.

  The old man was startled by his own shouting, but his palm did not leave the boy's forehead. "Fiercely, it's not yours, and you'll never get it. Even if you get it, you'll lose it. It's your father's momentary obsession that has ruined you. Unfortunately, Father only understands now. Let go, okay? Don't be afraid, Father will accompany you wherever you go!"

  Chui Meng was silent for a while, his bright red eyes closed, as if thinking about something.

  Inside the cave, it was extremely quiet. Everyone held their breath, and all that could be heard was the sound of the old man's tears falling, one drop, two drops, a string of them!

  "Why is it always me? I gave my body to someone else. Where's mine? Who took my body?" He said with a self-deprecating smile, his voice sounding fuzzy, making one feel like an icy insect crawling quickly up their spine.

  "Unless you return my body to me, I will never rest." He let out a howl that was neither human nor beast, but a resentful and eerie cry from the 18th level of hell, which made those who heard it unable to breathe, wanting to flee far away, yet being trapped in place.

  "Ah! What are you going to do?" The old man cried out in surprise, instantly understanding his son's intention. He tried to withdraw the hand he had placed on his son's forehead, but couldn't; his palm was tightly grasped by a strange and eerie force.

  Yan Feng made a decisive move. He ran over and grabbed the old man's waist, pulling him backwards, but only felt the old man's frail body trembling like autumn leaves in the wind, as if he was enduring immense pain. Years of training had given Yan Feng great strength, but his attempt to pull the old man away was unsuccessful, for Cui Meng's power was too great.

  "Cui Meng, are you still human!" Linglong shouted loudly and rushed over to slap him. She was shocked by the facts she had learned tonight, hated Cui Meng for poisoning her father, and feared that Yanfeng would be harmed, a mixture of emotions gave her incredible strength.

  That beheading seemed to be firmly embedded in the flower pot, and although Linglong used a great deal of force, it didn't budge. But this was too sudden, and also beyond his expectations, his mental strength scattered, Yanfeng had already hugged the old man and dodged aside, then he went to grab Linglong again. Linglong was both angry and afraid, her whole body trembling, she had long forgotten about staying away from Cao Cao and Cui Meng.

  Cui Meng suddenly opened his eyes, shouting loudly in his mouth, which seemed to be reciting something, but couldn't understand. Yan Feng felt that something was wrong and pushed Ling Long to hide behind the stone pillar that had once bound her, while he rushed to save Wula. However, Wula blamed him for always instinctively protecting Ling Long at critical moments, kicking and beating him. Just as Yan Feng finally grabbed her, the strange fan-shaped lawn suddenly burst into flames, blocking the two people in the side of the stone cave.

  That was a neatly trimmed, well-watered lawn. How could such a big fire start? Was everything just an illusion since he entered the cave - the lawn, flowerpots, severed heads, and strange incantations?

  Yan Feng was momentarily perplexed, knowing that witchcraft was a technique of influencing or controlling certain people or things by borrowing supernatural mysterious powers. Had he been controlled from the beginning, reflecting everything unreal into his heart? In other words, this fire might be fake, just an illusion.

  He cautiously approached, the scorching heat of the flames making his skin feel swollen and painful, his hair even curled up a bit. The mountain wind blew in from the small exit, further fueling the fire. Was this also an illusion? Like false information transmitted by the brain?

  "Go back!" The old man and Linglong shouted together, while Wula desperately pulled him back.

  "This is an illusion!" Yan Feng stubbornly wanted to break through this spiritual confinement.

  "This isn't an illusion, it's real! Haven't you heard of special abilities?" Wula cried out with tears in her eyes, "I've inherited some too, I know!" She said as she pulled Yanfeng again.

  Yan Feng fell to the ground weakly, momentarily stunned. Ula's strength was not small, but he shouldn't be so exhausted. He tried to get up, but fell again, feeling the ground shaking, as if the stone cave was about to collapse.

  As he turned his head, across the dancing flames, Yan Feng saw that Cui Meng's face had twisted to an indescribable extent, his tongue stretched out to a length that ordinary people couldn't understand, his ears and nose swollen and deformed, and his two bright red eyeballs bulged out, as if there was tremendous pressure inside his body, wanting to squeeze out his eyes, mouth, ears, and nose!

  He never believed in hell and ghosts, but at this moment, he really felt that the fire of hell was burning the sins of the world.

  Another murmur came, although similar to Cui Meng's tone, but the feeling was different. If Cui Meng's voice made people feel a chill from the bottom of their heart, this voice made people feel inexplicable sadness and gentleness.

  That old man, Choi Meng's father, knelt down in the center of the stone cave, holding a string of black crystal-like beads and reciting, his wide-open eyes still staring at his son. The helplessness of loving, regretting, and hating to take his place, the panic of doing something wrong were all written on his face, with endless turbid tears flowing from his eyes. He wanted to stop his son, not wanting his own flesh and blood to fall into an irredeemable situation, if someone had to bear it all, let him do it!

  A fierce gust of wind rose in the cave, whipping around and sweeping through every corner of the stone cave. The flames danced wildly in the wind, their tongues licking out unpredictably as if to engulf everything that came close. Yan Feng shielded Wu La in the corner of the cave, frantically searching for a way out, but his upper body had already been scorched in many places and he couldn't break through.

  "Chui Meng, stop it quickly! Do you want father and son to become sworn enemies?" He angrily shouted, not daring to look at the old man's expression.

  "He can't hear." Ula crouched quietly in the corner of the cave, her face calm and despairing as if resigned to her fate. "To snatch away someone's body, one must lure them into the mountain cave and then onto the grassy plain. But with a human head on top, it's impossible to speak. Only those with strong magical powers can do it. However, for him to control the surroundings to harm you, to control the unconscious Cheng Ling to walk onto the grassy plain is beyond his abilities. He's gone mad, forcing himself like this will only destroy his senses. Even if he were to switch bodies with you now, he'd still be a useless person who can't hear, see, or speak. He's gone mad, he's gone mad..." Ula muttered to herself, shuddering as if she had thought of something.

  Yan Feng was shocked, never expecting Cui Meng's personality to be so eccentric and intense. If he wasn't this kind of person, perhaps everyone would have been better off. Some people will never learn to let go, never understand the concept of give-and-take.

  He gazed weakly at the brutal father-son battle gradually subsiding, the flames dying out, and the once vibrant green grass turning into a patch of black ash. The pair also calmed down, with the father kneeling motionless on the ground like a sculpture, while Cui Meng quietly stayed in the flower pot, his nose, mouth, and ears swollen and red, only his eyes still open, his eyeballs having fallen out of their sockets and dangling on his cheeks, connected by thin blood vessels, presenting a terrifying and frightening appearance.

  "Come on, Ula, follow me, let me help you." Yanzhong stretched out his hand.

  Wu La crouched in the corner of the wall, biting her fingers, as if she hadn't heard anything. Yan Feng said three or four sentences before she slowly got up, looking at Yan Feng with a dazed expression, mechanically putting her hand into Yan Feng's hand, clearly having been stimulated too much.

  That wasn't the hand he was familiar with, but her face had returned to its former appearance, which he used to know. Although their feelings had changed today, Yan Feng's heart still ached. They had once loved each other purely, what made them become like this today? No matter what she did, he wanted to protect her, because he had promised so in the past.

  Bang! A very faint explosive sound came from behind. Yan Feng's body instinctively tensed up, quickly turning around to take a defensive stance, but when he turned back, he didn't see anything, only feeling with the corner of his eye that something small was approaching on the ground.

  Following his feeling, he saw two small balls rolling rapidly towards them on the ground. Before he could react, they had already rolled to their side.

  Wu La let out a sharp cry and climbed onto Yan Feng's neck. Yan Feng held her and looked down, only to discover that the two round balls were Cui Meng's eyeballs that had fallen off. Those eyes were originally crimson red, but after rolling on the black ash on the ground, they turned into a dark charred color, coldly protruding from the ground.

  It looks very scary and gives an inexplicable eerie feeling.