Chapter 13: The Sin of Greed

  "What is a narrow ghost door?" I was still puzzled, how did these four words come together, it sounded strange.

  "Is this... the legendary first demon flower of the Abyss?" Yang Cangcang's tone was heavy with shock, her expression indescribable, as if she were both reverent and fearful, with a hint of disgust.

  "Why did it grow here? This flower looks like it's been around for at least a few days, and the soil was just turned over the other day?" Wu Zihan furrowed his brow in analysis.

  "I told you guys to stop selling us out, hurry up and tell me what's going on with this flower?" I stared at the three of them with wide eyes, feeling bewildered and unsure of what to do.

  Yang Cangcang stepped forward and helped up Xiao Lao, who was sitting on the ground with his butt, and said with a half-joking tone: "Let's let the professionals explain it, we can't make sense of it."

  Xiao Lao seemed to still be reeling from the shock earlier, he took out the medicine he had given to the woman earlier and took a pill himself. Normally, no matter what danger we encountered, Xiao Lao would not react like this, his reaction made the whole thing even more mysterious.

  Xiao Lao composed himself, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and said slowly: "The narrow ghost flower is as you see it, it's just like this. It's said to be a flower that blooms in the deep abyss, we rarely see it here, but there are some. According to ancient books, there was once a place in the Western Regions where this flower bloomed, but it has since become extinct."

  I walked closer to take a careful look, and the flower was actually quite ordinary, with green leaves and red flowers on top. The shape of the flower was also simple, with only a few petals, but they were as red as blood. I suddenly had an illusion that the petals melted into a pool of blood, and I found myself standing in this sea of blood. Just now, I didn't feel anything, but at this moment, I smelled a strange fragrance that made me gasp for breath. The fragrance was so strong that it made me feel like I couldn't breathe. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain coming from behind me. I turned my head to see Wu Zihuan vigorously pounding on my back. I coughed violently several times, and my chest felt much better.

  Wu Zihan pulled me to one side and said seriously, "You can't get close to those flowers. You've had your soul split before, and the remaining three souls and five spirits are already extremely unstable. It could be life-threatening."

  I was shocked at once, "Is this flower so fierce? Can it also absorb souls?"

  Xiao Lao sighed: "The Yinyang flower has two colors, white and red. It grows in dark places and doesn't need sunlight to bloom. This flower is both good and evil, changing its color according to the nature of the people around it."

  "Human nature? That's a new one." I exclaimed.

  Xiao Lao's tone became more serious, "Yes, according to human nature, if human nature is pure, this flower can be used to brew sweet honey, not only delicious in taste, but also said to prolong life. If evil intentions arise, the flower will turn red and attract more and more poisonous people, evoking the dark side of human nature. The more people with a dark nature, the more gorgeous the flower becomes."

  I and Pei Ma were both stunned, "This flower can be used as a lie detector, to see if this person is good or bad. The red color is so vibrant, I'm afraid there are only a few good people in the village." Pei Ma added.

  Yang Cangcang suddenly didn't hear us talking, and kept tilting her head to look inside the flower cluster. "It seems like there's someone in that flower cluster! And not just one person." Yang Cangcang shouted loudly, startling several of us.

  Wu Zihan gestured for us not to go, he himself walked over to take a look, shook his head at us, and the expression looked very regretful and helpless. I curiously approached to see what was going on, Xiao Lao grabbed me, "Didn't we say you're not allowed to get close to the flower?"

  I hung my head in shame, muttering under my breath, "I'm not a bad person."

  "Good and evil have always been intertwined, you have the blood of Rakshasa Queen in your body, touching this flower might awaken it again, stay away from it at all costs." Wu Zihan said.

  The old man understood that I was just curious about what was in the flower cluster, so he walked in and parted the flowers. I took a peek and suddenly gasped, under the flowers were scattered many human faces, some ferocious, some angry, some fearful, all distorted beyond recognition. These faces seemed to be made of earth, but their features were extremely realistic. As I examined those faces carefully, I found that several of them looked newer and somewhat familiar. Upon closer inspection, my heart skipped a beat - weren't these people the ones who had gone missing from the ground earlier? The only ones missing were the driver and the big super. I asked in puzzlement, "Who is this, so idle, making so many human faces, including those of the people who just disappeared?"

  Everyone was silent, Wu Ziheng stared at those faces for a long time, and suddenly came out with a sentence: "These are all real people, they have just become fertilizer for the flowers."

  "What...what?" I couldn't help but shout out loud.

  Xiao Lao saw my disbelieving expression and explained, "I guess these should be the gold miners. This can explain why there's no one in the gold mine tunnels and the trees planted in front of the village are unattended. They've all become fertilizer for these flowers." Xiao Lao let out a long sigh, seemingly very tired, with a sense of disillusionment with the world, and continued, "According to my speculation, the fact that there's a gold mine in this mountain was probably discovered by some petty individuals who gathered a group of people to secretly mine for gold here. Their greed nourished these flowers, and once they were entwined by them, their nature would become increasingly dark, until they became mindless zombies, becoming fertilizer for the flowers. The driver and the missing person are probably also like this."

  "Well then..." I drawled.

  Xiao Lao chuckled and said, "Just now when I was sitting on the ground, I saw an illusion. All the gold mines in the cave were laid out before me. If I kill you all, the gold mines will all belong to me. The feeling is really great..."

  "What?" Yang Cangcang said with her hands on her hips.

  Xiao Lao hastily waved his hand: "I was just expressing my feelings from earlier, but I restrained myself and didn't do it, so I won against this narrow-minded ghost." Xiao Lao proudly raised his head.

  "How can you sweat so much with such ease? You think you can't beat us, right?" Yang Cangcang said with a glance at Xiao Lao, who pursed his lips and looked very displeased.

  Fu Ma squinted his eyes and said: "These flowers can't be kept, otherwise they will kill more people. How do we destroy them?" Xiao Lao shook his head dazedly.

  At this moment, I suddenly heard the sound of footsteps and people talking in the distance, it seemed like there were a lot of people, and the voices were getting closer and closer to us. "Could it be that Zheba and the others have discovered that we're gone and are running here to look for us?" I asked in a low voice.

  Xiao Lao hastily said: "Just in case, Junyang, if a conflict arises and we need to take action, you can freeze them. These people are also innocent, they must have been affected by the magic flower's power. If this continues, they will eventually become fertilizer."

  Wu Zihan waved his hand: "No, they are all ordinary villagers. If the Nine Worms freeze time for too long, it will harm their lives. Besides, we didn't even think of how to remove these worms."

  Those people are almost close to the cave entrance, Fu Ma Lingji moved and said: "We'd better not have a head-on conflict with the villagers for now, let's go behind and hide first, and see what they want to do." Everyone nodded and walked a little further back.

  I heard Zheba muttering loudly in his mouth: "This is God's will, we must do it, and if God goes against God's will, he will be punished. This baby is the son of the devil and must be eliminated!" Behind him, a group of people echoed in high-pitched voices: "Must eliminate! Must eliminate! Must eliminate!" One voice was higher than the other, one voice was more determined than the other.

  In the midst of that noisy crowd, I heard a woman's heart-wrenching sob.

  I leaned forward slightly, wanting to see what was going on. Zheba and the villagers were all crowded in the cave, because it was very narrow, only a few people with higher status were inside, while others were outside watching. Zheba was holding a baby in his arms, I took one look and recognized that the child was the woman who spoke to us this morning. What are they doing? Not even sparing a child?

  "Everyone who tried to take over our village has been punished by God, and now God tells me that another group of dangerous people have come to the village, those people living in my house. This woman was seen discussing countermeasures with them this morning, she's in cahoots with them. God specifically mentioned that her child is a devil's spawn who will bring harm to everyone in the village, they must be eliminated, sacrifice to the Flower God!"

  The woman wailed loudly behind the crowd, crying out for them to return her child, but those villagers all had expressionless faces, staring blankly at her as if everything was deserved.

  I absolutely cannot let this person harm the infant. I was just about to turn around and discuss with everyone whether or not to release the nine worms. Just as I turned around, I saw a black shadow quickly flash before my eyes, like a gust of wind. I focused my attention and saw that Wu Zihuan was already standing behind the chief of Zheba Village with his head tilted.

  Zheba village chief felt something was wrong behind him, turned around and saw Wu Zihan quickly snatch the baby away with his hand, taking several steps back, leaving Zheba village chief at a loss, only able to stand there stupidly staring. The woman seeing the child in Wu Zihan's hands suddenly let out a sigh of relief.

  The village chief of Zheba suddenly became furious: "What are you going to do, I treated you well and fed you well, but you want me to disobey the will of God. You will be punished, you will definitely be punished by the flower god." The village chief shouted louder and louder at the stunned villagers: "What are you looking at? Hurry up and take that demon back!"

  The villagers had just changed their minds when Wu Ziheng suddenly made a gesture to me, shaking his head. I looked at him in surprise and let the nine worms stop temporarily. Wu Ziheng smiled slightly and raised his hand, saying: "Wait, aren't you going to use this child as a sacrifice for the flower? I'm just helping you."

  Zheba village chief signaled villagers not to come over, blinking his eyes staring at Wu Zihuan, "You'd better not play any tricks."

  Wu Zihan sneered and walked into the flower cluster, pulling out a dagger from his waist and stabbing at the child. "No, Wu Zihan must have been enchanted by those flowers!" I shouted loudly.