Taotie was sweating profusely in anxiety. His stupid master had told him to watch over the woman in the hotel carefully. As soon as he sensed an extremely powerful evil aura, he rushed in immediately, only to find himself completely helpless against this thing.
When he saw Zhaozhao at this moment, his heart finally relaxed.
"Quickly take a look. I think she's about to die," Taotie grabbed Zhaozhao's clothes. His round eyes were full of worry for her.
"I know, Taotie. Don't be in a hurry," Zhaozhao patted Taotie's head, signaling him not to be impatient.
Zhaozhao lowered her head and thought hard. Now that Liang Yueshu was willing to use the curse of resentment to kill Jiang Yun regardless of the risk of being traced, she was afraid that Zhuang Tingzheng in her hands was in even greater danger. She didn't even know if that guy was dead or not...
It didn't really matter if they died. They were both evil people, and Zhaozhao certainly wouldn't have a soft - hearted moment and think it was a pity.
However, the matter of Zhuang Ming being set as the eye of the formation hadn't been resolved yet. He was still so young and shouldn't be trapped in that community for the rest of his life because of a heartless father.
"Zhaozhao," a hand suddenly landed on her shoulder. Zhaozhao looked up and saw Su Yuan smiling at her. He whispered, "Just do what you want. Don't be afraid. I'll always be behind you."
The encouragement and support in his eyes instantly boosted Zhaozhao's confidence. She knew what to do!
"Let's follow the evil aura on the curse of resentment to find Zhuang Ming's mother. Anyway, I believe she must love Zhuang Ming. She won't be willing to watch her child be trapped in that community for the rest of his life."
"Okay," Su Yuan winked, showing his full support for Zhaozhao's decision.
Zhaozhao reached out and took Su Yuan's hand. She vaguely felt that Su Yuan might have guessed a lot about her identity. But since she didn't ask, Su Yuan didn't say anything either.
Now deciding to go with Su Yuan to find Zhuang Ming's mother was a small step for her to confess to Su Yuan.
When Zhaozhao found the fragment of the tree spirit's heart from the wooden carving in the Zhuang family, she understood that Zhuang Ming's mother, or perhaps their ancestors, must have had an extraordinary relationship with her.
...
Zhaozhao and Su Yuan followed the evil aura all the way to a red maple forest.
Looking at the familiar red maple forest in front of her, Zhaozhao suddenly felt like laughing.
Back then, when she was poisoned by a gu and couldn't maintain her demon power, revealing her demon form, it was in this red maple forest. She had managed to hide it back then, but unexpectedly, after all these twists and turns, she was back here again.
At this moment, Zhaozhao seemed to understand a bit of what her master always said about "destiny."
"What are you thinking about?" Su Yuan waved his hand and looked at Zhaozhao sideways.
Zhaozhao came back to her senses and shook her head. "It's nothing. Let's go find Zhuang Ming's mother."
After saying that, Zhaozhao put her hands together and silently recited a spell. In an instant, a light - green butterfly flew out of her hands. Then, that butterfly quickly split into thousands of identical butterflies, flying in all directions.
Seeing this, Su Yuan raised his eyebrows slightly. He had never seen this spell before. He guessed it was a natural ability of this little guy as a tree demon.
Some special demons were indeed born with abilities related to their own bodies. It seemed that although Zhaozhao didn't tell him everything, she was no longer deliberately hiding things from him.
Thinking of this, the corners of Su Yuan's lips curled up involuntarily.
"South - west direction," Zhaozhao murmured as she watched the direction where the butterflies disappeared. The next second, she raised her hand to change the formation. Streams of black gas spread from the ground, connecting to the trunks of the maple trees in the south - west direction of the red maple forest.
"She's actually sucking the life force of these maple trees. No wonder the curse of resentment she cast is so powerful that even Taotie can't do anything about it."
Su Yuan squeezed Zhaozhao's hand, looking unconcerned. "It doesn't matter. She can't stir up much trouble. Let's go and take a look."
"Okay."
Although they said so, Zhaozhao of course knew that there wouldn't be a big problem, but she still felt a bit reluctant in her heart.
Zhuang Ming's mother was originally a victim. According to what Zhaozhao learned from Fufeng, if she had stopped in time and gone to the Underworld, the staff there would have given her an explanation.
But she had stayed in the human world for so long and privately cultivated the evil aura. If she added another life on her hands... When she went to the Underworld in the future, even if her grievances in the mortal world were fairly judged, what she had done would surely be punished.
Zhaozhao just hoped that she could stop her as soon as possible and not let her really kill Zhuang Tingzheng.
Su Yuan and Zhaozhao followed the trail of the strongest evil aura and finally saw Zhuang Ming's mother.
"You guys are quite fast," Liang Yueshu didn't seem surprised at all by their arrival. She was very beautiful, with a kind of gentle beauty. Even though she was now surrounded by evil aura, one could still catch a glimpse of her former charm.
She seemed a bit bored as she sat casually on a red maple tree. A red thread was twined around her hand, and the other end of the thread was tightly tied around Zhuang Tingzheng's neck.
Zhuang Tingzheng's face was completely black from suffocation. He was lying on the ground like a dead dog, breathing out but hardly in.
Zhaozhao didn't feel any sympathy for such a person. She glanced at him and then shifted her gaze to Liang Yueshu.
"Stop. If you kill him, your son will be trapped in that community for the rest of his life."
When Zhuang Ming was mentioned, a look of longing and pain flashed across Liang Yueshu's face. A tear of blood slid down from the corner of her eye.
She said shrilly, "Otherwise, do you think why I've still kept this dog - like life of his until now!"
Seeing that she hadn't completely lost her mind, Zhaozhao immediately let out a sigh of relief. She was just about to persuade her again when the next moment, a fierce wind rose, accompanied by Liang Yueshu's hoarse growl.
"But what does it matter to you? Where were you when my child and I were struggling desperately? Now that this brute is about to die, you come out, saying it's all for Ming'er. Who would believe you? Get out of here! When I prayed to the divine tree again and again, you didn't respond at all. Now there's no need to pretend!"
What divine tree? Zhaozhao had an intuition that the divine tree Liang Yueshu mentioned might be related to her real body.
She opened her mouth to say something, but Liang Yueshu wouldn't listen to anything anymore.
Helplessly, Zhaozhao sighed, pressed down Su Yuan's hand, and shook her head at him.
"Let me do it. I still hope she has a chance to start over."
Hearing this, Su Yuan looked at her intently for a while and then put down his hand.
"Okay," he said.
Several yellow talismans flew out of Zhaozhao's hands, surrounding Liang Yueshu.
Zhaozhao softly recited the spell. The talismans burned and turned into raging flames. From the flames came Liang Yueshu's painful cries.
"The Liang family has offered sacrifices to you for hundreds of years. You don't save your believers but instead help such a heartless thing! What kind of goddess are you!"
Zhaozhao's face changed. The next moment, she covered her chest painfully and collapsed softly into Su Yuan's arms, spitting out a mouthful of fresh blood.
The flames went out. In Liang Yueshu's palm was a crystal - clear fragment that emitted spiritual energy all over.
Zhaozhao took a closer look. Was that a fragment of her tree spirit's heart?!
What was going on? Hadn't she already fused the fragment from the wooden carving in the Zhuang family? Why did she still have one in her hand?!