Mu Anqi walked toward the second household. Just as she stepped into the yard, she suddenly felt a wave of dizziness. The familiar sensation instantly told her that she had fallen into an illusion again.
However, there didn't seem to be anything unusual about the scene? It was just that she had been moved from the yard to the small path outside? Just as Mu Anqi was feeling puzzled, seven or eight people suddenly rushed in from all directions, wielding bamboo sticks, wooden rods, and brooms, charging toward her. Their faces were hard to make out, but it was vaguely discernible that they were all tall men. The weapons in their hands were raised high, clearly intending to gang up on her.
What the hell is this? Mu Anqi cursed inwardly. These people were frighteningly fast— she had just shouted "Long life and eternal prosperity" when one of them flipped sideways to dodge, and the rest charged at her. Just as the bamboo stick was about to hit her, Mu Anqi decisively used a substitute paper doll, then threw down a smoke bomb to buy time and quickly continued chanting blessings, using spicy syrup to block them.
Mu Anqi had already reacted quickly, but when she saw the freshly-inflated substitute paper doll get smashed to pieces in an instant, she still felt a wave of lingering fear.
What kind of lunatics are these? Who attacks someone without saying a word the moment they see them? And they're so brutal about it?! Mu Anqi was furious. She quickly recited eight blessing words in one breath to control these maniacs, raised her candy cane, and blasted spicy syrup straight at their heads. However, these were clearly not ordinary people. Even though they screamed in pain, their movements were completely unaffected.
In that instant, the scene before Mu Anqi changed again—the eight men in front of her instantly turned into a pile of skeletons.
Mu Anqi paused slightly, stopping her candy cane attack, just in time to see the long blade in Ji Huaichu's hand dissipate.
General Ji—so reliable, after all.
Mu Anqi calmed down and recalled everything she had seen in the illusion. The group of people who were beating her just now were all clearly dead now. And when the incident had happened… was the person being beaten still alive? Was this revenge? A curse? Mu Anqi had a nagging feeling the scene was familiar—she seemed to have seen something like this while surfing the internet…
It seemed to be… some kind of childbearing ritual? Ah! Yes, there had been a lot of discussion about it at the time. Many people said their hometowns never had such disgusting customs, but someone had posted actual documentation proving that this ritual had indeed existed. This was 'Pai Xi'—joyful beating.
[T/N: this explains it better (link)]
The pile of skeletons slowly sank into the ground and finally disappeared beneath the soil. Mu Anqi tapped the ground cautiously with her candy cane—those skeletons that had been smashed to pieces by General Ji didn't climb back out. She stepped toward the house and used her candy cane to push open the door, only to find a skeleton collapsed at the doorway in a fleeing posture. Mu Anqi poked the skeleton, but it showed no sign of coming back to life. Was this a male skeleton? The male head of the household?
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Mu Anqi cautiously directed a blessing word toward the skeleton. Seeing that it didn't move, she finally felt at ease and walked toward the master bedroom. As soon as she entered, she jumped in fright—and for good reason. A skeleton was sitting at the edge of the bed, holding a round, adorable boy-doll "statue" in its arms, as if coaxing a child to sleep. The skeleton's head was slightly lowered. Though it had no flesh or expression, Mu Anqi could somehow sense a maternal tenderness from its movements.
—But this was just too unbelievable, too strange!
This household also had a shrine, but the statue from the shrine was being held in the female skeleton's arms. The boy-doll statue was smiling adorably, with a face full of good fortune.
In the dusty, lifeless room, a skeleton sat at the bedside, "gently" gazing at the child in her arms, coaxing him to sleep—and that child was a brightly colored boy-doll statue wearing a red bellyband. The statue's smile was cheerful, even festive, but when seen in the context of the whole scene…
It looked utterly eerie and twisted.
Mu Anqi tightened her grip on the candy cane. She really wanted to rush over and smash that "statue" to pieces, but remembering that there was still information left to uncover, she forced herself to hold back.
At the third household, the moment she stepped in, the environment around her changed once again. She stood outside the home, watching as lights lit up inside. Along with the cry of a baby and a woman's wailing, an old woman came out holding a baby. A man waiting outside had an angry, sullen expression and waved his hand in irritation before going back inside. The old woman quickly walked out of the courtyard gate, and, ignoring the infant's crying, raised a pair of scissors and cut off the baby's head. She then called over a stray dog and threw the baby's body to it. She cursed a few times with phrases like "money-losing wretch" and "bad luck," and even threatened, "If you dare reincarnate into my family again, I'll feed you to the dogs." Finally, she closed the front gate and walked straight back into the yard.
Mu Anqi more or less understood what had happened in this dead village.
The scene before her shifted, and in the distance beyond the village, Mu Anqi saw a tower standing alone in the wilderness. From within the tower came the piercing cries of countless infants, and she could even see the tangible resentment rising straight into the sky. Though the tower was some distance from the village, even that separation couldn't stop the resentment from casting a gray pall over the entire place.
Countless infant skeletons crawled out from the tower, slowly making their way toward the village. The sight was both shocking and terrifying. On one hand, Mu Anqi knew they were all victims, yet on the other hand, she understood that they had become the embodiment of evil thoughts.
The whole village was steeped in malicious energy—ignorant, superstitious, cruel, resentful, unyielding, hateful…
It was the embodiment of countless tragedies.
In front of Mu Anqi was the tide of infant corpses pouring forth like a wave. Behind her were the cursing grandmother and husband, and the weeping wife lying on the bed.
For a moment, she didn't know what to do. Resist the tide of corpses? Kill the illusionary version of this household? She couldn't put an end to sin itself.
Mu Anqi directed a blessing word at the back of the husband, then swung her 1.2-meter-long candy cane and smashed it down hard on his head. Her beginner-level staff technique finally showed results—Mu Anqi wielded her candy cane with fierce momentum, each strike landing with a heavy thud, knocking the husband to the ground. She followed up with another fierce blow, shattering his right leg.
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And then there was that grandmother. Mu Anqi had never understood—why would a woman who had once been oppressed turn around and so "righteously" oppress someone who was once herself? This grotesque and twisted chain of inherited abuse was soaked in blood and guilt, and at a glance, seemed to stretch endlessly into darkness.
One strike. Then another. A violent burst of yin energy erupted, and Mu Anqi turned her head—only to see the infant tower on the other side of the scene explode with a thunderous boom, the wave of corpse-tide suddenly vanishing. She struck down once more, and the grandmother beneath her cane turned into a pile of bones. The candy cane's reinforced construction took effect, instantly smashing the skeleton apart.
Mu Anqi knew—this was General Ji's doing again.
Staring at the skeleton before her, then thinking of the shattered infant tower, Mu Anqi thought: If she hadn't been here, and General Ji had come to clear the dungeon alone… she'd probably have wiped out the entire village and absorbed all the evil thoughts without hesitation.
This time, the dungeon felt like a fusion of many smaller sub-dungeons, all pieced together. Fueled by malicious thoughts, it revealed a brutal reality.
Mu Anqi once again saw the chubby, smiling child statue on the household shrine. She lowered her gaze, gripped her candy cane tightly, and left the room, heading toward the next residence.
The moment she stepped into the courtyard, her vision flipped, and a suffocating sense of danger overwhelmed her. A burly man had pinned her down, both hands tightly strangling her neck!
"Don't blame me, don't blame me… I didn't want to do this either. You've just lived too long…"
"Xiao Hu is sick again, he's the lifeblood of this family! Father, your son is sorry…"
The man muttered to himself, but his grip only tightened.
Mu Anqi was being choked so hard she couldn't get a word out. She clutched her candy cane and swung it forcefully at the man. His body trembled, but he didn't let go. She pressed the end of the candy cane against his body—spicy syrup gushed out in an instant!
"Hah…" Taking the opportunity, Mu Anqi shoved the man away and gasped for air. She immediately raised the candy cane and blasted it toward the man's eyes, while at the same time shouting the blessing: "Live a long life!"
Mu Anqi had heard of this kind of superstition before—it was called "Living Descendant Longevity Offering"! Of course, it also had another name: "Clay Pot Grave."
Mu Anqi swiftly got out of bed, chanting blessings devoutly as she raised her candy cane and smashed it hard onto the man's head. With a crisp crack, the man's head was knocked clean off, rolling away and turning into a skull, its dark, hollow eye sockets fixed on her.
Mu Anqi immediately drenched the skull with spicy syrup. But just then, the headless body suddenly sprang up and lunged at her. Its ghastly white bones turned into claws, striking straight for Mu Anqi's heart. Instinctively, she swung her candy cane to block it, shouting the blessing "May you prosper!" to control the skeleton. However, the syrup had not been turned off, and during the swing, it accidentally splashed onto the child statue on the shrine, knocking it off and shattering it on the ground.
The moment the boy statue broke, countless resentful thoughts instantly condensed, vaguely forming a humanoid shape. In that instant, Mu Anqi's vision was filled with crimson—the emotions of violence, sorrow, and an urge to slaughter everything surged into her mind like a flood.
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A massive shadow loomed, and in that moment, Mu Anqi felt herself seized by overwhelming hatred. Gripping her candy cane tightly, all she wanted was to kill any living being in sight. Like the headless skeleton—or perhaps…
Mu Anqi saw Ji Huaichu, wielding a red-tasseled spear, casually smashing the skeleton to pieces.
Mu Anqi shuddered all over and snapped out of it instantly. She immediately looked toward the dark, forming shadow and blurted out, "Wishing you a life of loneliness and isolation… ah, no, wait—wishing you rising success, promotion and fortune, wealth and prosperity!"
The shadow's figure instantly trembled. It seemed to try resisting Mu Anqi's skill, but the struggle lasted only a moment. Not even a second passed before the resentment around the shadow thickened. Then "it" pulled out a black orb from its own body and struck a pose as if preparing for a slam dunk.
Its movements became smoother from that point on—but the moment it flipped upside down, Ji Huaichu moved.
The red-tasseled spear danced in her hands, launching a series of fluid attacks. In just a few moves, the shadow was smashed into pieces. The fragments tried to reform, but countless shadows surged from beneath Ji Huaichu's feet like an army of ghost soldiers, rushing forward and devouring every last trace of the severed shadow.
With a thought, Ji Huaichu directed the shadows that had emerged from her feet. After consuming the evil energy in the room, they scattered throughout the house. Ji Huaichu looked at Mu Anqi and thought: choosing the Black Mirror dungeon to train Mu Anqi… wasn't really much better than sending Xia Fenghua.