Fangxian Heretical Path

Chapter 181 The Unfortunate Man's Tomb Raider Order

With the ability to pass through walls, the courtyard walls and gates seemed to vanish before Fang Shu, and he easily appeared in the next room.

A plump, full-figured body appeared before him. The woman was bent over, busily working by the water vat. The room was filled with the smell of beans and milk.

This person was Dou Sufu, his and his second uncle's neighbor.

Fang Shu stared at the woman with surprise.

Nearly ten years have passed, yet time seems to have left no trace on her. Moreover, compared to before, the charm she exudes is like fine wine, growing more mellow with age.

Especially since it was nighttime, and the other person was busy making a living in the room, dressed lightly, their aura was exposed without any concealment, instantly giving people a stunning and alluring feeling.

After glancing at the woman a few times, Fang Shu suppressed the strange feeling in his eyes. He flipped his hand, and several items appeared in his palm.

The most important of these was the Hu Family Treasure Book he obtained at the Qianshan Mine, which contained the Hu family's ancestral feng shui secrets.

That's right, he came tonight to return this secret manual of feng shui.

After all, according to the book's owner's last words, he hoped that whoever was destined to obtain the book would bring it to Dou Sufu and take good care of her.

Now that Fang Shu has reached the Qi Refining stage, even revealing this Feng Shui secret technique poses no risk to him. Moreover, Dou Sufu is one of his old acquaintances, so he should naturally return this item to its rightful owner.

Suddenly, a sound of a water ladle falling to the ground rang out.

"who!?"

Inside the room, Dou Sufu trembled slightly, her face alert as she looked around.

It was Fang Shu's action of placing the item on the table after taking it out that startled the other party. However, he was under the influence of an invisibility spell, and the room was dimly lit, so the other party should not have noticed him.

He stood still, letting the other person look around, intending to throw everything down after Dou Sufu turned around before leaving.

Just then, Dou Sufu, holding a candle, suddenly stared at the ground by the candlelight. Her expression remained unchanged, but the look in her eyes was very strange.

Fang Shu glanced at it as well, and a wry smile immediately appeared on his face.

In the candlelight, although there was nothing there where he stood, a dark shadow was clearly reflected on the floor tiles.

This is one of the current drawbacks of invisibility. It cannot achieve the state of being completely invisible while standing upright. The effect is similar to how a ghost cannot create a shadow when it reveals itself. When a living person uses this technique to hide their presence, it is also difficult to hide their own shadow.

Just as Fang Shuxin hesitated, intending to reveal his figure and comfort the other party, a voluptuous body took the initiative to throw herself into his arms.

Dou Sufu held Fang Shu tightly, her body still trembling slightly, her breathing rapid, and her body burning hot as her sweat evaporated.

Bathed in the moonlight outside the window and illuminated by the candlelight inside, her neck and chest were glistening with sweat, making her incredibly alluring, and her clothes were taut and shapely.

Fang Shu assumed that the other party recognized him because of this action. Remembering his past with this Sister Dou, he went along with it and took the initiative to hug the soft flesh in his arms, feeling a sense of shock.

But at that moment, a murmured trembling sound made Fang Shu's thoughts freeze, and all the distracting thoughts in his mind seemed to melt away completely.

"It's you? Hu Lang! Is it you who's back!?"

Dou Sufu hugged Fang Shu tightly, her hands constantly groping his body, and as if holding porcelain, she wanted to touch his face.

Fang Shu chuckled, immediately understanding that Sister Dou had mistaken him for Brother Hu. The reason for this mistake was quite simple.

He glanced out the window and saw the Hu family's treasure book and a few other miscellaneous items, all neatly arranged.

Dou Sufu must have recognized these things at a glance.

In the silence, Fang Shu's mind cleared. He grabbed Dou Sufu's wrist, preventing her from touching his face and exposing herself.

He calmly hummed in response, changing his tone to a hoarse "It's me."

Upon hearing this answer, Dou Sufu burst into tears of joy, her face beaming with a smile that none of her neighbors had ever seen before.

He felt a mixture of joy, fear, and relief, as if he had finally received the result after years of waiting.

As Fang Shu embraced her, he could sense that Dou Sufu was completely unguarded at this moment.

But he didn't take advantage of the situation; he just stood there silently, letting the other person hug him.

Dou Sufu nestled against her "husband's" chest, experiencing this dreamlike scene. Her breathing was erratic, her eyes glazed over, and she finally mustered the courage to ask Fang Shu:
"Hu Lang, what troubles have you encountered all these years? Why have you only come to find me now?"

She spoke these words with extreme caution, afraid that her tone might betray blame and drive her husband away. Yet, her words were still filled with a deep-seated resentment that had been building up over the years.

Fang Shu examined the situation closely for a moment, then nodded in agreement, and said in a hoarse voice:
"As long as you're doing well, that's enough."

The next moment, Dou Sufu asked hopefully, "Now that you're back, are you leaving again?"

After she finished speaking, her expression visibly turned pitiful, as if she knew that the person in front of her was unlikely to stay.

Fang Shu didn't want to give this woman too much hope, so he simply reached out and touched her hair, calmly saying:
"Live well, being alive is more important than anything else."

Then, under the other person's sorrowful gaze, he reached out and forcefully pressed down her hand, separating the two to prevent them from dragging things out any longer. With his action, Dou Sufu trembled all over, her joy vanished without a trace, and she was at a loss for what to do.

Fang Shu, breathing in the aromas of beans, milk, and women in the room, had no other thoughts in his mind, only a sense of感慨 (gǎnkǎi, a feeling of deep emotion or reflection).

What a miserable life.

He said no more, lest he do more and make more mistakes, either extinguishing Sister Dou's last hope or giving her more hope, causing her to have unwarranted expectations and delaying the remaining years of this unfortunate widow.

There was a snap.

He placed all his belongings, along with a few bottles of pills and some spirit stones, by the window, then spoke indifferently:
From now on, may we both be well.

As soon as he finished speaking, he turned and walked out of the courtyard.

At this moment, Dou Sufu burst into tears, crying out, "Don't go! Hu Lang, don't go!"

She tried to rush forward to stop Fang Shu, but because she couldn't catch him, she fell down in the room, spilling the hot soy milk. She was soaking wet and steaming.

This alluring and pitiful scene clearly fell into Fang Shu's eyes, but he remained unmoved.

Just then, Dou Sufu hurriedly took out a red rope from her sleeve.

She held the item in her hands, gazing expectantly in the direction Fang Shu had left, like a child anticipating a reward. She hurriedly said, "Hu Lang came to retrieve this, right? Don't worry, I've always kept it very, very well..."

But as she talked, no one responded.

After a long while, Dou Sufu wiped away her tears, and she got up from the ground with a mix of crying and laughing, stopping her sobbing.

This person, facing the direction of Fang Shu, spoke to himself:

"Over the years, I've waited for you for so long. It's not that I haven't thought about forgetting you. I've also thought many times that you, you dead ghost, didn't die outside. You came back, or even became rich and accomplished in cultivation, and came to take me away to be the wife of an immortal."

I even thought you, you ungrateful wretch, would try to snatch this ancestral item from me. I just never expected you to actually come back... Since that's the case, then you should accept it, so that I can put an end to my last wishful thinking, and save myself from worrying about you anymore, and save myself from having to protect my body for you anymore.

If one day I meet another man, I will no longer feel guilty towards you! It's not like I'm unwanted!

She mumbled on and on, saying a lot, sounding like she was cursing and crying, and making angry vows.

Fang Shu listened quietly, like a passerby, but savoring the bitterness of half a lifetime implied in the woman's words.

Until Dou Sufu gritted her teeth and cursed:

"Hey! You surnamed Hu, you'd better take this stuff, otherwise I won't take anything else you leave behind."

At this moment, Fang Shu pondered for a long time before uttering a single word:
"it is good."

With a whoosh, Dou Sufu felt the object in her hand suddenly fly out and disappear into thin air in front of her.

Her eyes lit up, but then, no matter what she said to the wall, no one responded.

Dou Sufu was still unwilling to give up. She thought of something and quickly lit a candle, searching around the room, even looking under the bed, but she still couldn't find a second shadow.

Once she was sure she was alone in the room, she sat down on the floor, feeling utterly helpless. She realized that what had just happened was like a dream, completely unreal.

But when she looked out the window, the Hu family's treasure book and some old objects were clearly visible, proving that what she had just witnessed was not just her imagination as a widow.

After a long time.

An uncontrollable sob and weeping finally erupted in the back room, a wailing that continued uncontrollably.

the other side.

Fang Shu had already returned to his room. He sat cross-legged on the bed, his eyes slightly closed, and heard the crying from next door.

He felt that the crying, compared to his earlier muttering, was like the gongs and drums at the end of a theatrical performance, as if he wanted to cry out all his grievances in a cathartic way.

Faintly, Fang Shu also heard some noises from the other two houses in the courtyard, as if they had been disturbed, but no one went out to check, they just stayed quietly.

After listening for a while, he thought to himself, "Life is fleeting, and worldly affairs are like duckweed. Is this what life is all about?"

He suddenly felt there was a certain charm to it, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Fortunately, the matter of returning the precious book had been settled. He kept this unexpected feeling in mind and then planned to enter a meditative state to cultivate his spiritual power.

But suddenly, his consciousness stirred and turned to the red ribbon he was holding in his hand, where he discovered something.

A small, button-shaped talisman was attached to the belt. The talisman was animal-shaped, neither quite a dog nor quite a fox, and its material was peculiar. There were no other words on it except for the two characters "Gu Yue" on the base, which together formed the "Hu" character of the Hu family.

"Huh?" After observing for a moment, Fang Shu's eyes widened in surprise, and he thought to himself:
"This is... a tomb raiding token?"

(End of this chapter)