The effect of the invisibility potion had worn off. The two of them crouched on the other side of the Infant Tower, fearing being spotted by the patrolling guards in the distance.
Li Zhi patted the tower’s surface. “It’s impossible to knock down this tower with just manpower. We don’t have any tools like gunpowder either. The key to destroying the tower must be inside.”
Chi Yi knew she was right. However, they could already feel the intense resentment of the ghostly infants just standing outside. Going inside… would they really be able to come out unharmed?
Chi Yi bit her lip. “I’ll go with you! It’s always better to act together than alone!”
Li Zhi shook her head. “Only I can go in. You wait for me outside.”
Chi Yi froze, unsure why Li Zhi said that, but Li Zhi didn’t give her time to react. With her naturally flexible body and strong upper body muscles, she easily squeezed through the square hole. Fortunately, her slender frame prevented her from getting stuck.
Chi Yi’s heart raced as she nervously clung to the edge of the hole, trying to peer inside, but it was pitch black, and she couldn’t see anything. Instead, the overwhelming stench stung her eyes, causing tears to well up.
“Zhi Zhi? How is it inside? Are you okay?”
She called twice but received no response. She didn’t even hear Li Zhi land. The dark hole seemed like the mouth of a malicious spirit, swallowing Li Zhi whole the moment she entered.
Chi Yi covered her mouth, tears streaming uncontrollably, but she kept clinging to the hole, hoping to hear something.
The wind howled mournfully in the wilderness.
The moment Li Zhi landed, she realized she had entered some otherworldly space.
The once pitch-black interior of the Infant Tower was now illuminated. She didn’t see the expected gruesome sight of bones piled high. What she did see was far more chilling than anything she had imagined.
It was an enormous floating umbilical cord, as if freshly removed from a womb, still covered in sticky, bloody fluid. Countless smaller cords extended from this main umbilical cord, like tentacles. These smaller cords were attached to the navels of the ghost infants.
Bound by these cords, the ghost infants couldn’t leave, only floating around and playing in the area. When they noticed an outsider had entered, they curiously crawled over, sniffing and inspecting her. Whether it was due to the confusion-inducing perfume Li Zhi wore or for some other reason, the ghost infants seemed to regard her as one of their own.
They gleefully snuggled up to her, tugging at her hair and kissing her face.
The intense resentment within the tower was corroding the umbilical cords. Some of the cords had already broken, and the ghost infants attached to them had vanished, likely the ones that crawled out of the players’ bellies.
Li Zhi pulled down the ghost infant that was climbing on her head and tugging at her eyelids, then took out her exorcist knife. Expressionless, she swung the knife at the cords that bound the ghost infants like tentacles.
Outside the tower, Chi Yi, still anxiously waiting, suddenly felt the tower tremble.
Her face lit up, and she approached the hole again. “Zhi Zhi? Is that you?”
A bone-chilling gust of wind rushed out from the hole. If it weren’t for the confusion-inducing perfume, Chi Yi might have been carried away by the resentment alone.
Inside the tower, the massive umbilical cords, like giant seaweed in the deep sea, swayed and trembled. The knife in Li Zhi’s hand gradually became dull. As the smaller umbilical cords were severed, the freed ghost infants happily nuzzled against Li Zhi before crawling out through the hole.
Finally, all that was left in the tower was the blood-soaked main umbilical cord. The smaller cords attached to it drooped lifelessly. Li Zhi could feel that the effect of the confusion-inducing perfume on her body was fading. She raised her nearly broken knife one last time and struck the cord hard. The blade shattered on impact.
The Infant Tower shook violently. A stone brick fell and hit Chi Yi’s head. She cried out softly and retreated a few steps, clutching her head.
Cracks began to appear on the tightly sealed tower, a sign it was about to collapse.
Chi Yi grew anxious. She leaned close to the hole again, but before she could call out, a long, slender white hand suddenly shot out of the opening, catching her off guard.
Chi Yi was almost scared out of her skin, but then she heard Li Zhi’s muffled voice from inside, “Yi Yi, give me a hand.”
“Zhi Zhi!” Chi Yi was both overjoyed and anxious. She hurriedly grabbed Li Zhi’s hands and pulled her out of the tower.
Just as they stepped away, the entire Infant Tower collapsed with a loud crash, scattering the piled bones across the ground. Under the bleak moonlight, the skeletons of the infants looked pitifully small.
From the time they were born until they died, the only view these children likely ever saw was the sky between their home and the Infant Tower.
Li Zhi tugged on Chi Yi’s arm. “Let’s go. We’ll come back to deal with the bones after checking on the situation.”
Chi Yi wiped away her tears, then suddenly hesitated as she remembered something. She asked, a bit unsure, “Zhi Zhi, why did you say only you could go in there?”
But Li Zhi didn’t respond.
The two hurried back. By the time they reached the fenced-off entrance, the patrol guards were nowhere to be seen. Only the ground was soaked in fresh blood.
As they got closer to the town, the sounds of infants crying and laughing became clearer in the night breeze, mixed with faint screams.
The eerie noises echoed from all directions of the town. It had turned into a ghostly infant playground. Chi Yi clasped her hands together in prayer as she walked, mumbling, “If you have grudges, settle them. If you have grievances, air them. Please don’t involve me…”
When they returned to the Jin family mansion, the thick scent of blood nearly tore through the darkness.
“If they have grudges, they’ll settle them. And the Jin family has the deepest grudges of all. Who knows how many baby girls they’ve killed over the years,” Chi Yi muttered nervously. “What if everyone in the mansion is dead? What about our people?”
As they dashed up the steps to the entrance, a tall, slender figure turned around from within the wide-open gate.
He wore a Daoist robe and carried a faded blue cloth bag on his back, embroidered with a Bagua (Eight Trigrams) symbol. The lanterns at the Jin mansion swayed in the wind, casting light and shadow on his sharp, elegant face, exuding an otherworldly, reclusive air.
Chi Yi was so shocked that she stammered, “H-he-he—he!!!”
Facing his calm, tranquil gaze, Li Zhi’s eyes curved in a smile as she cheerfully called out, “Master.”
Chi Yi was flabbergasted. “Master??!!”
The audience reacted:
【Master???】
【I thought the Master was just a background character in this instance. I didn’t expect he was real!】
【That face! Gasp—That face!!! Is this beauty even real?!】
【You guys don’t know him??? He’s the stunning NPC Li Jianxi from the newbie instance where Li Zhi first appeared!】
【So, what is this? An NPC cameo? Just showing up in every instance?】
【He’s a friendly NPC! He helped players in the last instance!】
【Zhi-Xi shippers are celebrating!!! I thought I was shipping a rare, one-time couple, but they’ve reunited!】
【I never thought I’d be able to ship a Master-Disciple couple, but I’m loving this!】
…
Li Jianxi looked at them and responded softly, “Yes, I’m late.”
Chi Yi thought to herself, ‘Master, this isn’t just being late, this is really late! The disciples are almost all dead, and now you finally show up? Was this on purpose???’
But now wasn’t the time to question him. The appearance of this crucial NPC meant their plan had probably succeeded. The three of them headed toward the residence of the Madam.
Chi Yi whispered to Li Zhi, “How did you know he was our Master?”
Li Zhi pointed to the cloth bag on Li Jianxi’s back, which was identical to the one that held their master’s handwritten notes.
Chi Yi suddenly understood.
There was one more thing Li Zhi hadn’t mentioned. She had seen Li Jianxi’s handwriting in the previous instance, so the moment she saw the notes, she recognized his script. To run into him again, even she was a bit surprised.
Do all NPCs take on new identities and reappear in different instances, or is it just him?
Her thoughts were interrupted by the screams coming from the courtyard of the Madam.
The three of them quickened their pace.
The servants who had been surrounding the courtyard earlier were nowhere to be found. It was unclear if they had fled or been devoured by the ghost infants. Inside the brightly lit courtyard, only the terrified Jin family patriarch and the grim-faced Butler Chen remained, surrounded by a horde of ghost infants crawling all over the place.
There were so many that it was hard to find a place to step.
The Jin family patriarch and Butler Chen stood within a blood-covered formation. The ghost infants were unable to break through the formation and circled anxiously, emitting shrill cries.
The Jin patriarch trembled as he muttered, “It’s almost time, almost time. Once the son is born, the Nine Generations of Washing Women will be complete, and we will finally succeed!”
At the same time, a loud cry of a newborn echoed from the closed room, followed by the high-pitched voice of the midwife: “It’s a girl!”
Then came Tian Mingjie’s panicked voice: “Zhao Luan! Take the baby, quickly!”
Outside, that single phrase—”It’s a girl”—caused the Jin patriarch to shudder. In disbelief, he turned to stare at the grim-faced Butler Chen, and then he screamed hysterically, “Another girl! You told me that as long as we transferred the ghost infant’s resentment onto others, this child would definitely be a boy! You lied to me! You lied to me!”
He lunged at Butler Chen, hands outstretched to choke him, but Butler Chen pushed him away with a single strike, sending him stumbling out of the blood formation.
The ghost infants let out high-pitched laughter as they swiftly crawled over and devoured the Jin patriarch.
Nothing remained but a pool of blood.
Butler Chen slowly turned to face them, his eyes glinting with malice, his gaze venomous as he looked at the three of them. “Your disciple is truly impressive, junior brother.”
Junior brother??
Both Chi Yi and Li Zhi were shocked as they turned to look at Li Jianxi, who remained as calm as ever. In a flat tone, he said, “A traitor expelled from the sect for practicing dark arts is not worthy of being my senior brother.”
Manager Chen let out a deranged laugh.
The commotion outside alerted the remaining players inside the house. Tian Mingjie burst through the door, and upon seeing Li Zhi and Chi Yi, he shouted joyfully, “Sister Zhi! Did you succeed? We followed your advice, took the Jin family’s eldest son hostage, and retreated into the room. Then a bunch of ghost infants suddenly appeared and ate everyone! But they didn’t come near the room, and the Madam gave birth to a baby girl safely!”
Zhao Luan followed him out, cradling a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes. A terrifying scar ran from his eye down to his ear, though it was unclear how he had gotten it.
Only three players remained in the room. During the Madam’s childbirth, two others had succumbed to their markings, turning into mummified corpses.
Out of twelve players, only five survived.
Suddenly, Li Zhi strode toward Butler Chen, who was still laughing maniacally in the blood formation. Without hesitation, she kicked him hard in the knee. There was a loud crack, and Butler Chen screamed as he fell to the ground. Li Zhi dislocated his arms and twisted them behind his back.
“What is the Nine Generations of Washing Women?”
Manager Chen screamed and laughed simultaneously.
Li Jianxi approached, his voice calm amidst the ghost infants’ wails. “It’s a twisted ritual he concocted to deceive people. The dark practice of washing women for nine generations—if the eldest branch gives birth to sons for nine consecutive generations, it would ensure the family’s prosperity. If it’s a daughter, she must be killed, and the cycle continues for nine generations. This is the so-called Nine Generations of Washing Women.”
—
Author’s Note:
The Nine Generations of Washing Women is a real feng shui dark art from history.
Translator’s Note (Doldol):
The “Nine Generations of Washing Women” (九代洗女) is a dark, superstitious ritual mentioned in the story, based on real-life feng shui practices that have historically existed in certain cultures. The idea behind this ritual is tied to ensuring a family’s long-lasting prosperity and influence, but through cruel and twisted means.
Here’s how it works:
1. Nine Generations of Male Heirs: The belief dictates that for a family to maintain their prosperity and power over nine generations, the eldest branch of the family must continuously give birth to male heirs. These male descendants are seen as crucial to the family’s fortune and future.
2. Female Infanticide: If a daughter is born instead of a son, the ritual demands that the baby girl must be killed to avoid breaking the cycle. This is where the term “washing women” comes in, as it symbolically refers to “cleansing” the family of female offspring. The cycle must then continue until nine generations of male heirs are born without interruption.
3. Goal: The ultimate goal of this dark practice is to ensure the family’s continued wealth, power, and influence. If the family successfully births nine consecutive generations of sons, they believe the family will be blessed with eternal prosperity.