The charming widow of the Marquis's mansion: The stable boy carries the flag and raises the dra

The open space in front of the ancestral hall was quiet for a moment.

The villagers who had been thrown into the air had just climbed out of the mud and were grimacing and yelling as they clutched their injuries, but at this moment they were all stunned.

Someone witnessed the fake Taoist priest turn to ashes and vanish. His lips trembled, and the Soul-Suppressing Nail in his hand clattered to the ground.

"Daoist... Daoist Master..."

"The immortal...the immortal has been killed..."

"No, is he... is he really an immortal? If he really is an immortal, how could he be defeated in a single move..."

The discussions were chaotic and filled with fear, and all eyes were fixed on Wang Long.

In those eyes, the initial frenzy and greed had faded, replaced by pure fear.

Someone reacted first, their knees buckled, and they knelt down in the mud with a "thud," their forehead hitting the ground hard.

"Please spare us, immortals! Please spare us! We were bewitched by that fake Taoist priest! It wasn't our intention!"

This kneeling seemed to have flipped a switch, and the sound of knees hitting the mud and water echoed one after another.

One by one, figures crawled down, their foreheads pressed against the wet ground, their whole bodies trembling.

"We were wrong! We were really wrong! Please, sir, have mercy!"

"That fake Taoist priest deceived us! We didn't know anything!"

"We'll never dare to do it again! Please, immortal, spare our lives!"

They knelt on the ground, their cries, pleas, and kowtows blending into a chaotic cacophony in the rain.

Wang Long ignored these people and sneered inwardly.

They didn't know they were wrong; they knew they were going to die!

Wang Long remained squatting in front of the girl, his gaze fixed on her somewhat bewildered face.

He could feel her small body trembling slightly, and he couldn't tell if it was from the cold, the fear, or both.

The girl's gaze went over his shoulder and landed on the villagers kneeling on the ground, kowtowing and begging for mercy.

Those people's faces were filled with fear and fawning, a stark contrast to when they had dragged her into the ancestral hall.

As she looked, her gaze gradually became complicated, as if something in her eyes shattered, reformed, and then slowly settled away.

The girl didn't speak, but instead looked away and turned to Wang Long, her eyes now showing a clearer look.

Wang Long seemed to be able to read her feelings at that moment.

He stood up, turned around, and faced the villagers kneeling on the ground, his gaze calmly sweeping over the familiar and unfamiliar faces.

He didn't say anything more, he just raised his hand and pointed in the air.

A golden light shot out from his fingertips, streaking across the villagers who had once received the Soul-Suppressing Nails like a meteor.

All those who held the Soul-Suppressing Nails turned to dust in an instant and vanished into the rain.

There were no screams, no struggles, and not even a chance to react before those figures vanished cleanly, like sand paintings scattered by the wind.

Wang Long crushed all the Soul-Stabilizing Nails into dust.

These things will never again trap the girl in front of her.

The remaining villagers lay on the ground, trembling like leaves.

Some people huddled together, some made soft sobs, and others lay on the ground, their teeth chattering in the cold wind.

Wang Long looked at the remaining figures with an indifferent tone.

"Good and evil are rewarded accordingly; you all know in your hearts what you have done."

He didn't look at them again, turned around, and faced the girl again.

The girl was standing a few steps behind him. Wang Long was clearly facing away from the villagers, but she could feel that the people who had appeared in her nightmares had completely disappeared.

She looked at Wang Long, tears glistening in her eyes, but the corners of her mouth curved slightly upwards.

"Am I... am I free?"

Her voice was very soft, as if she was afraid that if she asked too loudly, she would wake up from the dream.

Wang Long squatted down, looked into her eyes, nodded gently, and spoke in a soft but firm voice.

"Yes, from now on you are free. No one can force you to do anything anymore!"

The girl's tears finally welled up without warning.

She stood there, letting the rain and tears mingle and stream down her cheeks, her shoulders trembling slightly.

But she didn't cry out; she just quietly shed tears.

She raised her hand, wiped her eyes with her damp sleeve, and then grinned.

The smile was light and faint, but Wang Long could sense that it was a genuine sense of relief from the bottom of his heart.

Thank you~

She looked at him and said earnestly.

"Thank you for coming to save me."

Wang Long didn't say "You're welcome," because he knew those three words were too insignificant to her.

He simply reached out and gently rubbed her rain-soaked hair.

Just then.

The girl's body began to glow.

The light shone from her chest, as if something inside her had finally been relieved of its weight.

Her figure grew fainter and lighter, as if melting into the drizzle, into the wind, and into the deepest warmth of this land.

"I'm leaving now~"

Her voice became ethereal and gentle.

"I can finally rest!"

Wang Long looked at her, nodded gently, and spoke softly.

"Okay, get some rest~"

The girl's lips slowly curved into a smile, a clean and bright one.

Then, she transformed into a soft white light, like a swallow returning to its nest, and flew lightly towards Wang Long's brow.

The moment it touched his forehead, it transformed into countless points of light and merged into the depths of his consciousness.

Wang Long closed his eyes and felt a warm power spreading out in his mind, like a lake surface touched by a spring breeze, gentle and peaceful.

The girl's two souls successfully merged, becoming the complete person she is.

At this moment, she completely surrendered.

Then a very soft and gentle voice rang in Wang Long's mind.

My name is Xi Ning~

"I'm going to take a nap..."

The sound gradually faded away, turning into a deep silence.

Wang Long stood there, the rain having stopped sometime earlier.

Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the clouds, falling on the rooftops and fields of Peach Blossom Spring, bathing everything in a warm, pale gold glow.

The bluestone in front of the ancestral hall, engraved with the three characters "Peach Blossom Spring," is silently developing cracks under the sunlight.

The cracks spread from the top of the stone all the way to the bottom, as if something had forced it open from the inside, and finally made a faint cracking sound.

The bluestone cracked instantly, breaking into several pieces that lay scattered on the ground.

At the same time, the remaining houses began to blur, like ink stains soaked in water, their outlines gradually spreading and disappearing.

The ridges of the fields, the peach orchards, the well, the old locust tree—everything that constitutes the Peach Blossom Spring—silently fades away at this moment, turning into a warm, golden dust that drifts into the sunlight with the wind.