Xie Lian said, “Maybe, he was eaten.”

The rich businessman shuddered: "Being, being eaten?!"

Xie Lian nodded. The rich businessman said, "Then, Taoist priest, what should we do now? I have a wife who is also pregnant. What if the monster comes again?!"

There is actually a pregnant woman in this person’s house!

Xie Lian raised his hand and said, “Please be patient. Let me ask you again. Does your wife still remember where she met this child in her dream?”

The rich businessman said, "She vaguely remembered it was a big house, but she definitely didn't remember anything else. It was just a dream, who would remember it so clearly?" He gritted his teeth and said, "I... I was over 40 when I finally had a son. I'm so miserable! Taoist priest, can you catch and kill this monster? Don't let it harm my family again!"

Xie Lian said, “Don’t panic, don’t panic. I’ll do my best.”

The rich businessman was overjoyed and rubbed his hands together, saying, "Okay, okay, what do you need, Taoist priest? Remuneration is not a problem!"

Xie Lian said, “No need for reward, just help me with a few things. First, please find me a set of unused women’s clothing. It must be loose enough for a man to wear. Also, I’m afraid I’ll need a lock of your Madam Ru’s hair for the ritual.”

The rich businessman ordered his servant: "Write it down!"

Xie Lian continued, “Secondly, please tell your pregnant wife, Mrs. Ru, to sleep in a different room. No matter where or when, if she hears a strange child calling her ‘mother’, she should not respond. She should never respond, and it is best not to open her mouth. Although people often don’t know they are dreaming when they are dreaming, and they are confused and demented, if you repeatedly remind her in her ear and make her remember this deeply in her mind, it may still be effective.”

The rich businessman also agreed. Xie Lian said, “Third, I brought two children with me. Can you please take care of them and arrange a good meal for them?”

The rich businessman said, "For such a small matter, I can handle even a hundred of them, let alone two!"

Finally, it was time for the most important last one. Xie Lian said, “The fourth one.”

He took out a talisman from the Puqi Temple from his sleeve, handed it to the monk with both hands, and said solemnly: "Please say loudly to this talisman, 'Your Highness, please protect me!' - this way, this matter can be recorded in the name of our temple."

“…”

That night, Xie Lian changed into women's clothes again.

Although he seemed to be familiar with dressing up as a woman, this was his first time to dress up as a pregnant woman. He put on his makeup in front of the mirror, and in no time, he stuffed a pillow into his stomach, hid a strand of hair from the pregnant woman in the pillow, and then lay down on the bed. He calmed down, slowed down his breathing, and soon fell into a deep sleep.

After an unknown amount of time, Xie Lian slowly opened his eyes and what came into view was no longer the rich businessman’s concubine’s house, but a magnificent pavilion.

Xie Lian's first reaction was to feel Fang Xin to see if she was beside him. After he felt her, he felt relieved. Fang Xin was, after all, a precious sword, tightly tied to him. Then, he slowly sat up and suddenly felt something sticky on his hands. He lifted his hands and saw that he was lying on a bed. There were large patches of blood on the bed that were extremely horrifying. They had not yet dried up, and half of his body was also stained red, which was shocking.

Xie Lian was not surprised. He got off the bed and took two steps. Suddenly, he felt something fall off his body. He looked down and found that it was the pillow. He quickly picked it up and put it back in. After taking two more steps, his stomach fell off again. Xie Lian had no choice but to hold it with both hands and observe around.

Having grown up in the palace, Xie Lian had been influenced by what he saw and heard, and had his own opinions on beauty and ugliness. In his opinion, although this small building was gorgeous, it was full of the smell of cosmetics. If he had to guess, he would think it was a restaurant or a place for pleasure. Moreover, compared to the popular style of today's architecture, this style was really old-fashioned, and it looked like a house from hundreds of years ago. He didn't know where it was.

In this case, it is unlikely that the ghost of the aborted daughter of the rich businessman is causing trouble. Because the illusion created by the evil spirit is based on its own cognition. Obviously, this ancient house that is hundreds of years old can only exist in the cognition of the evil spirit that is hundreds of years old. After walking around and finding no one, Xie Lian returned to the room where he lay first.

This was a woman's bedroom, with a dressing table and an open cabinet containing some children's clothes, dolls, rattles and other toys. Xie Lian checked them one by one and found that they were all brand new. It was obvious that the hostess of this place took good care of these items. In other words, this woman was full of love for her "children".

After flipping through the clothes again, Xie Lian was suddenly shocked to find a talisman tucked into the boy's clothes. And this talisman was actually his talisman!

Extremely surprised, Xie Lian had to confirm it again and again. Yes, this was indeed his amulet. Moreover, it was not the simple amulet that he made by picking herbs in the mountains, weaving it himself, drawing the amulet himself, and tying it with red thread himself. It was the kind of amulet that was circulated throughout the country eight hundred years ago when Prince Xianle was at his most glorious. Almost everyone had one. The materials and patterns were extremely exquisite. It was also clear where it came from and whether it was consecrated.

Could it be that the hostess of this house was once his believer?

At this moment, in the dead silence, Xie Lian suddenly heard a series of giggles.

It was a child's laughter, very abrupt, scattered in the air, and no one knew where it came from. Xie Lian remained calm, but in his heart he was thinking: This voice sounded familiar, as if I had heard it somewhere before. Where exactly?

Suddenly, a string of childish voices rang in his mind: "The bride. The bride, the bride on the red sedan chair.

"With tears in my eyes, I am crossing the hills. Don't smile under the veil..."

On Junshan Mountain, in the bridal sedan, he heard the voice of Tong Ling!

When Xie Lian suddenly woke up, the child spirit's laughter also stopped abruptly. He turned around abruptly, and there was no trace of him.

After the incident at Yujun Mountain, he also asked about the child spirit in the spiritual array, but at that time everyone told him that no child spirit was found on the mountain, and he was the only one who heard the voice of the child spirit. And now, this child spirit has appeared in front of him for the second time. Is it a coincidence or intentional?

The child stopped smiling and said, "Mother."

The sound of "mother" was so close, but he didn't know where it came from. Xie Lian said nothing, holding his breath and listening carefully.

After a long silence, the child's voice said again: "Mom, hug me."

This time, Xie Lian finally discovered that the sound came from his stomach!

Xie Lian had been holding up his fake belly with both hands, but he was shocked to find that the pillow in his hands had become heavy. He slapped his palm and with a "pop", something rolled out of his clothes. It seemed to be a pale child, and it spat out a few balls of stuff from its mouth. The child rolled into the darkness and disappeared in an instant. Xie Lian rushed over to take a look, and saw that what it spat out were a few balls of cotton wool and a strand of black hair. It seemed that his sleight of hand had worked. The little ghost wanted to eat Xie Lian's "child" like it had eaten the child of the last pregnant woman, but it ate the cotton substitute that Xie Lian had placed in front of his belly. Then, Xie Lian heard the thing scream miserably: "Mother!"

No matter how it opened its mouth or how shrill it screamed, Xie Lian remained calm and didn't even open his mouth. He concluded that this child spirit was a fetal spirit, and this room was where his or her mother had lived. Because it didn't have a definite form, if it died at a certain age, it would appear in the form of that age when it was haunting, but most of the time it was a ball of black smoke or a blurry white shadow, which meant that it itself was not sure what it should look like. Moreover, the small clothes in the closet were obviously not worn by anyone, and there was a lot of horrifying blood on the bed. Xie Lian deduced that the hostess of this house should have had a miscarriage, and her unborn child had already taken shape and had a little consciousness of its own. After turning into a fetal spirit, it wanted to return to its mother's belly, so it found the wife of the rich businessman.

It called out "mother" in the woman's dream, and the woman was bad because she agreed. You must know that the bond between "mother" and "child" is extraordinary, and this agreement is a "permission" to get whatever you want. When she opened her mouth again, it just gave the evil creature an opportunity to take advantage of the situation. The little ghost went into her mouth, slipped into her stomach, and ate the fetus in her belly, taking over the magpie's nest. Although Xie Lian is a man, he is not sure whether the child spirit will take the opportunity to get into his stomach if he opens his mouth to agree, but just in case, it is better to keep his mouth shut.

So, he kept his mouth shut and held the Sword of Heart, looking for the child everywhere. Xie Lian always had a strong intuition about danger, which was honed through countless actual combats. He didn't need to look carefully at all. He would just stab it wherever he suspected it was, and nine times out of ten he would stab it correctly. Although Xie Lian's damage to it would be reduced by several percent in the illusion set up by the child spirit, it was probably enough that it was stabbed by Xie Lian several times. After a while, Xie Lian suddenly felt a sharp pain under his feet. He actually stepped on something extremely sharp and paused slightly.

When the child spirit saw him being hit, it seemed to let out a short, evil laugh. Although the voice was childish, it was not supposed to be made by a child at all. Instead, it sounded like a vicious adult. The contrast was extremely great and horrifying. Unexpectedly, Xie Lian remained calm, took one step without stopping, and stabbed with his sword again. Stabbed again!

The child spirit cried out in pain and fled far away. Xie Lian then looked down at the sole of his boot and found that he had stepped on a small sharp needle standing upside down. The child spirit must have placed it there on purpose. It seemed that it really wanted Xie Lian to scream in pain. However, it miscalculated. Xie Lian was very tolerant of pain. Not to mention stepping on a needle, even if his leg was caught in a trap several feet long, he could still endure it without making a sound if necessary.

The needle was small and pierced very deep. Xie Lian wanted to pick it out first, but the child spirit jumped out after being defeated. Xie Lian was afraid that it would take the opportunity to escape and harm others, so he stepped on the needle and chased it out of the house. After a while, he felt no pain and walked as fast as a flying bird. After searching the small building for a while, he still couldn't find the child spirit. Xie Lian was wondering in his heart: "Could it be that I scared it?" At this moment, a window not far away opened without wind.

Xie Lian immediately ran over and took a look, but he was stunned. There was no street outside the window, no mountain view, no pedestrians, only a deep pool with no bottom in sight.

Across from the deep pool, there was a house. Inside the house were two children, Lang Ying and Gu Zi, who were eating around a table. However, they were completely unaware that a thick black fog was hovering above them, making a giggling sound and calling out crisply, "Mom! Mom!"

Xie Lian’s heart suddenly jumped, and he placed his hands on the window frame, subconsciously wanting to warn them, but then he remembered that he couldn’t speak, so he forced himself to keep quiet.

Although this was just an illusion of the child spirit, he didn't know whether Lang Ying and Gu Zi were also pulled in. If so, the harm they suffered here would be inflicted on them in reality. He wanted to look around for a vase to throw over to warn them, but he couldn't find anything to throw. The table and chairs couldn't be thrown out, and there was a large lake between the two rooms. Did he have to swim across?

At this time, Guzi was listless and yawned. The black smoke suddenly gathered and seemed to be about to slip into his mouth.

The defense layer of a child’s body is very weak. Even without permission, this thing might be able to invade. Xie Lian didn’t have time to think slowly and swim slowly. He made a quick decision and shouted, “Shut up! Run!”

As soon as the words came out, Lang Ying and Gu Zi woke up in shock. They both shut up and jumped up. The child spirit suddenly disappeared, and the next moment, a cloud of black smoke exploded in front of Xie Lian!

Although Xie Lian stopped drinking after finishing the drink, he could already feel a cold air rushing into his mouth. The black smoke entered his stomach, and his internal organs seemed to be frozen in an instant. He clenched his teeth, quickly opened a few amulets, took out the herbs and talisman paper inside, chewed them hard, and swallowed them. After a while, his throat felt itchy, and he spit out the black smoke again!

Xie Lian covered his mouth with his sleeve, coughing non-stop, choking and tearing up, thinking quickly about how to deal with it. The cloud of black smoke still enveloped his upper body after he exhaled, so Xie Lian pressed his hand on the window frame, jumped up, and jumped into the lake outside the window.

With a "dong" sound, Xie Lian plunged deep into the lake. He held his breath, crossed his legs, folded his hands, and made a meditation posture, letting his body slowly sink into the cold lake water. After his heartbeat calmed down, he looked up and vaguely saw the black fog hovering above, locking the entire water surface. As soon as he came out of the water, he had to take a deep breath, and as long as he took this breath, he would definitely suck the child spirit into his stomach. If a man suddenly got a big belly, it would not look good at all.

However, he jumped into the water just to find some free time to think. After a while, Xie Lian figured out a way to deal with it. He thought, "What if I swallow it? I can just swallow her heart as well." He had learned the skill of swallowing a sword when he was performing on the streets. Although swallowing it would probably hurt his body, it didn't matter. At least as long as he could capture the child spirit, it would be fine.

Having made up his mind, he let go and swam to the side. But he heard a dull sound of water from above, and suddenly, large areas of blazing red filled his eyes.

The black tangled hair filled his entire vision, and the water splashes and bubbles became denser and denser, and he could not see anything clearly. Xie Lian blinked, and tried hard to push away the tangled threads and crystal-like bubbles, and then he felt a pair of strong hands. One hand hugged his waist, and the other hand pinched his jaw.

The next moment, something cold and soft blocked his lips.