Chapter 29: West Tulanya - The Baby Tower
The final, crucial clue finally surfaced, connecting all the fragmented pieces of the mystery.
The "Nine Generations of Cleansing Maidens" was nothing but a fraudulent geomantic curse—a tragic reflection of an era's cruelty. Steward Chen had deceived the Jin family, claiming that sacrificing nine generations of female infants would ensure the family's eternal prosperity. In truth, he only sought to harness the vengeful spirits of the slain babies to fuel his dark arts.
The Jin family, believing his lies, slaughtered eight generations of infant girls. By the ninth generation, they found themselves unable to conceive a son. The accumulated resentment of the nine generations was too great—their souls sought rebirth through the Madam’s womb, and even Steward Chen could no longer suppress them.
So he told the Jin patriarch that if the vengeful energy could be diverted elsewhere, the Madam would finally bear a healthy son.
The two daughters born to the previous Madam were stolen and drowned. Overwhelmed by the trauma, she threw herself into the lake and died. Her spirit, unable to rest, wandered the estate—until Steward Chen crafted a cursed artifact from her child’s bones to keep her at bay.
The talisman bundle the Jin patriarch gave the players did protect them from the female ghost. But after dissecting the two types of talismans, Li Jianxi discovered that the players’ version contained an additional component:
The placenta and umbilical cord from the current Madam’s first birth, refined into a cursed object. Combined with the ritual array in the guest rooms, the players, after spending a night under its influence, were permanently marked.
The ghost infants, deceived by this illusion, targeted the players, seeking to be reborn in their wombs. But since the players were not pregnant, the infants could not be born normally as they had in the Madam’s belly. Instead, bolstered by dark magic, they forcibly drained their hosts’ blood and flesh to crawl out—creating monstrous, neither-human-nor-ghost offspring. These abominations were then slain by Steward Chen, fueling his cursed rituals.
Dark arts corrupted the mind—the more fear one harbored, the weaker their fate became, and the easier it was for vengeful spirits to invade.
Chi Yi shuddered as she listened, instinctively clutching her chest. Thank goodness—though she’d been terrified, being near Li Zhi had given her an overwhelming sense of safety, making her slightly braver than the others. The mark didn’t activate randomly; the more fearful one was, the quicker they perished.
Indeed, the better your mindset, the longer you live.
But even if the Jin family’s plan had succeeded—if the players had absorbed the ghost infants’ resentment, allowing the Madam to give birth safely—she still would’ve had a daughter.
The sex of a child was determined at conception, unaffected by external forces. Preventing the ghost infants from being reborn only increased the chances of having a son from zero to fifty percent.
The Jin family believed that if this birth produced a son, their family’s fortune would finally overpower the nine generations of female infants’ resentment, ensuring endless prosperity. But their entire scheme was built on lies from the start—now, they’d only reap the consequences.
Steward Chen, already disarmed by Li Zhi and beaten by Zhao Luan and Tian Mingjie, slipped into unconsciousness. The players tied him up, and Li Jianxi declared that once the Qingyu Town incident was resolved, he’d take Steward Chen back to his sect for punishment.
From a faded blue cloth bag, he produced a brush, dipped it in cinnabar, and drew a talisman on each player’s palm.
"This will cleanse the curse mark from your bodies. You need no longer fear the ghost infants’ rebirth."
Relief flooded their faces—they’d cleared the instance.
The swaddled infant in the cradle continued crying. The Madam, who had fainted from labor pains, slowly awakened. Hearing her child’s wails, she dragged her exhausted body out of bed, stumbling toward them. "My baby?! Where’s my child?! Don’t kill her, please!"
Li Zhi took the infant from another player and held her up. "She’s here. She’s safe."
The Madam clutched her daughter tightly, tears streaming as she kissed the baby’s wrinkled face. "Mama’s here. Mama’s here, and I’ll protect you this time. No one will hurt you again."
The infant seemed to understand, gradually quieting until she fell asleep peacefully.
The Madam looked at Li Zhi with gratitude. "Thank you. You saved me and my child. Otherwise… I might’ve ended up like the previous Madam, unable to survive."
Li Zhi recalled the first Madam—who had visited the players for two nights without harming anyone. "You’ve seen her?"
The Madam nodded, tears falling. "I met her on my wedding day. I was terrified, thinking she’d hurt me. But every night, she just stood by my bed, as if desperate to tell me something. I was too scared. Later, Steward Chen gave me a talisman, and I never saw her again—until…"
She looked down at her child, voice trembling. "Until last year, when I gave birth to my first child. She appeared again, this time with two tiny ghost infants at her feet. She told me to run, to take my baby and flee." The Madam broke into sobs. "She was warning me all along, but I realized too late. My daughter was taken and drowned, just like hers… In this house, daughters don’t survive."
No wonder the first Madam had never tried to harm the players. Her disturbances were likely just attempts to scare them away.
Li Zhi smoothed the Madam’s disheveled hair. "No one will hurt you now. Rest with your child first. We’ll bless her once we’ve dealt with the outside."
The Madam nodded, tears still streaming.
Outside, Li Jianxi prepared a ritual to cleanse the ghost infants.
As he chanted, the wailing and laughter that had haunted Qingyu Town faded. The blood-covered infants crawling everywhere were cleansed, their forms turning plump and rosy. They floated upward, their tiny hands waving as they dissolved into golden light.
Like fireflies, they rose higher and higher, illuminating Qingyu Town with their pure radiance before scattering in the wind.
Chi Yi felt a pang of sorrow. "Are they reborn now? After all they’ve suffered, they’ll be born into good families, right?"
Li Zhi sat on the steps, resting her chin in her hand. "Yes."
Beside her, Li Jianxi finished the ritual and packed his things. Calmly, he told the players, "Stay here. I’ll collect their remains and return."
He took two steps before Li Zhi called out, "Shifu." The word slipped out naturally, her tone carrying an unfamiliar warmth. "Let me come with you."
Li Jianxi paused, glancing back. His eyes, clear as mountain springs, shimmered under the moonlight. Few could resist such a gaze, but he quickly looked away. "Fine."
Chi Yi had wanted to follow but hesitated—Zhao Luan was still a threat. From Tian Mingjie, she’d learned that Zhao Luan’s horrific facial wound came from slashing the Jin family’s eldest son during the kidnapping. The gruesome scar made him look even more villainous.
Having cleared the instance twice, Chi Yi felt she’d grown. She couldn’t keep trailing behind Li Zhi like a sidekick. She decided to stay and keep an eye on Zhao Luan.
The windswept streets of Qingyu Town were silent except for their footsteps on the stone path.
The clouds parted, and moonlight bathed the scene in clarity. Li Jianxi’s slender shadow wavered on the ground.
As she followed him, Li Zhi suddenly asked, "Shifu, have you been to Qingyu Town before?"
His destination was clear—he headed straight for the Baby Tower in the outskirts, no need for directions. Li Zhi remembered the background lore: a once-renowned cultivator who tried to destroy the tower but was stopped by the townsfolk. Could it have been him?
Sure enough, Li Jianxi’s voice drifted back, calm and distant. "Yes. Three years ago, I came here to cleanse the ghost infants in the tower, but failed."
Li Zhi quickened her pace to walk beside him. "Why would the townsfolk stop you? Isn’t it good to cleanse the resentment sooner?"
Li Jianxi turned his head slightly, moonlight catching the edge of her pale face before he looked forward again. "Because they believed the ghost infants, once cleansed, would be reborn into their families. They saw female infants as a curse and wanted to trap them forever in the tower."
Just like those in folklore who killed newborn girls in the cruelest ways—to make them fear rebirth, to ensure they’d never return.
Li Zhi fell silent, following him without a word.
Unable to resist, Li Jianxi glanced at her again. Her usually bright eyes seemed dulled, as if veiled in dust. He pressed his lips together and spoke slowly. "You’ve been inside the Baby Tower?"
Li Zhi shook off her thoughts and smiled. "Mm."
Li Jianxi lowered his gaze, pulling something from his cloth bag. "For you."
Li Zhi took it curiously—a small pendant shaped like a sunflower, its material smooth and luminous under the moonlight, likely jade.
"The tower’s resentment clung to you despite your protections. This amulet will cleanse the taint and keep your mind clear."
With that, he fell silent again, even quickening his pace—two or three steps that left Li Zhi trailing behind.
She chuckled at his retreating back.
Was he blushing? No way… right?
"Shifu—" she called sweetly, "Thanks for the gift."
He walked even faster.
The audience was eating this up:
[It’s an engagement token!! Definitely an engagement token!!]
[I’m shipping a doomed couple, but I can’t stop. It’s too good.]
[Wait, NPCs can give players items?!]
[Is there a hidden NPC-favorability system? Reach a certain level and unlock rewards? Easter egg?]
[No way. NPCs like him should reset after each instance. How would he remember players?]
[But Li Jianxi clearly remembers Li Zhi!]
[Given their dynamic, a mentor-gifting-a-disciple makes sense.]
…
While the audience spiraled into theories, the two finally reached the Baby Tower’s ruins—a crumbling heap in the wilderness.
The bones still lay exposed. Together, they dug a grave and laid the remains to rest. As they finished, fireflies emerged from the wild grass, circling the mound like playful children.
Li Jianxi scooped a handful of candies from his ever-resourceful bag and placed them on the grave.
Li Zhi decided his bag was basically a magical treasure chest.
Noticing her gaze, Li Jianxi hesitated before pointing at the mound. "You can take one."