Chapter Ninety-One: Before the Moon Vanishes

Before the moon disappeared...

Before Zhang Dahu’s death, he uttered a cryptic phrase that was puzzling yet impossible to ignore.

Zhou Bai kept pondering the hidden meaning within those words. Was it mere madness, or had Zhang Dahu, in the throes of insanity, truly seen something in a dream?

Setting aside these strange fragments, what he called the “painting” likely referred to calligraphy or artwork, which was somewhat easier to trace.

He didn’t hurry to leave the manor. The ever-present oppressive atmosphere had not lessened in the slightest. It seemed that even after resolving the troubles within the Zhang family, many challenges still lay ahead.

Soon, Zhou Bai noticed something unusual. Although the monstrous infant had perished, reduced to a pile of flesh, it still continuously emitted a maddening aura.

Moreover, Zhang Dahu and his wife also carried this faint but unmistakable scent, indicating that the influence was mutual and somewhat contagious.

At that moment, footsteps echoed outside the manor. Wen Meng arrived with several constables.

Zhou Bai quickly stepped outside and stopped them before they could enter the courtyard.

“What’s the matter?” Wen Meng asked anxiously, noticing Zhou Bai’s furrowed brow.

Zhou Bai glanced at the two constables beside him and replied, “Nothing serious. But the ghostly creature has killed all the living inside. The bodies are strange and may affect ordinary people.”

Wen Meng exhaled in relief. Ghostly entities varied widely; he had even encountered ones that transformed men and women, so he didn’t take it too seriously.

“Let’s follow the old rules of the Underworld Department: burn them to ashes, gather the ashes, and lay them under the sun to bake for a few days. That should do.”

Zhou Bai nodded slightly. Since Wen Meng hadn’t thought of the ghostly domain, he naturally wouldn’t exaggerate. After all, no one could prove why that monstrous infant had appeared; it might have been mere coincidence.

Wen Meng and his men didn’t enter, instead gathering around the manor. With the Underworld Department short-staffed, Zhou Bai was left to do the heavy lifting.

He didn’t bother to handle the task personally. He released the ghost tree and had it use its roots to collect all the corpses into a pile.

Then he searched the woodshed for dry firewood and arranged it around the bodies.

He struck a firestarter, and the kindling quickly caught fire, but as the bodies gradually melted away, a chilling aura seeped out, causing the flames to dwindle.

Seeing this, Zhou Bai kept throwing more firewood onto the fire, trying to keep the flames alive, but it seemed futile.

Soon, the flames were about to extinguish, when the ghost tree suddenly stirred. It used its roots to scoop up a small flicker of flame.

A surge of yin energy flowed through the ghost tree, and this ember, stimulated by the yin energy, gradually grew larger, turning a ghastly pale color.

Zhou Bai was surprised. Upon closer inspection, he realized why the ghost tree could bolster the flame.

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