The Yin energy in her lungs gradually dissipated.
Zhao Yan's heart slowly pieced together the cause of the events.
What Mu Chuan had said was not entirely false, but only three parts truth and seven parts lies.
They had indeed passed through the village while traveling, and Luo Wen Tao had indeed escaped from the village and encountered them.
After bringing Luo Wen Tao down the mountain, seeing her beautiful appearance, the four of them immediately harbored ill intentions.
Furthermore, in this desolate wilderness, they feared nothing.
After discussion, the four of them gave in to their beastly desires.
What made Zhao Yan even more furious was that after indulging their desires, they dared not silence her. After cleaning up the evidence left on Luo Wen Tao, the group discussed and actually planned to send Luo Wen Tao back to that hellish village.
A mishap occurred during the journey back, allowing Luo Wen Tao to escape. They had been chasing Luo Wen Tao ever since.
While in pursuit, they unexpectedly caused Luo Wen Tao to fall from the mountaintop.
"Ah!" Luo Wen Tao let out a tragic scream, and the Yin energy within her rapidly expanded.
She continuously drifted back and forth on the mountain.
Zhao Yan finally understood what the old farmer had said about a woman constantly running on the mountaintop, and often hearing a woman's cries.
This woman was indeed Luo Wen Tao.
She wanted to escape this place, but she died here, becoming a bound spirit, trapped on the mountain.
Luo Wen Tao suffered greatly, yet even in this state, she retained some humanity at a critical moment.
Had she lost her humanity, Wu Jia Xin would have been dragged down the mountain and killed by her.
The tragic, painful sounds echoed through the valley.
Zhao Yan recalled the chat logs between Wu Jia Xin and Officer Xiao Qin.
Luo Wen Tao was officially declared to have committed suicide by jumping off the mountain.
There were no surveillance cameras on this mountain, so Mu Chuan and the others would face no consequences.
Zhao Yan took out a talisman and looked up at the sky.
"Today, I will bring you justice."
"Heavenly spirits, earthbound, release and awaken."
"Spirit, rise!"
The talisman in her hand flew out, instantly stopping in mid-air. Following that, a golden light flashed from within the talisman.
It sounded as if glass was shattering all around.
This binding was broken.
Luo Wen Tao broke free from the earthbound restraint. She was first astonished, then turned to look at Zhao Yan, tears in her eyes.
Though the woman and the ghost exchanged no words, their unspoken understanding conveyed more than a thousand words.
Luo Wen Tao transformed into a white mist and fled forward.
Zhao Yan glanced back at Wu Jia Xin.
She turned and followed closely behind Luo Wen Tao.
Using two acceleration talismans, Zhao Yan entered the village.
Tragic screams echoed throughout the village.
As she moved further in, she saw an old man with vacant white eyes, no external injuries, who had been scared to death.
Taking a few more steps forward, a hand suddenly grabbed her ankle.
Looking down, she saw a middle-aged man, who had wet himself, reaching out towards her feet, looking back in terror.
His gaze towards Zhao Yan was one of desperate plea, and he muttered in a dialect Zhao Yan couldn't understand.
Luo Wen Tao appeared before Zhao Yan. The man looked at Luo Wen Tao, retreated behind Zhao Yan in panic, pointing at Luo Wen Tao with a terrified expression.
From Luo Wen Tao's memories, Zhao Yan already knew.
This man was the one who had bought Luo Wen Tao.
Luo Wen Tao was bought at eighteen. She was beaten severely for being disobedient and forced to bear a son.
Luo Wen Tao never gave up on escaping. To escape, she feigned obedience.
Luo Wen Tao walked forward step by step, while the man tightly gripped Zhao Yan's ankle.
Zhao Yan looked at the man who had wet himself and kicked him in the face, sending him flying.
"Mom!"
The man cried out sharply, and an old woman rushed out from the house.
The old woman crawled to the middle-aged man's side, protectively shielding him.
Upon seeing Luo Wen Tao, she desperately knelt on the ground, begging Luo Wen Tao for mercy.
"Tao Tao, spare Xiao Hu. If you kill Xiao Hu, how will your son live?"
Hearing the woman speak Mandarin, Zhao Yan was taken aback.
"You were also trafficked here to be a wife, just like me!"
"Not only do you not understand my suffering, but you also help their family. Worse, you are even more ruthless than him. The grievances you suffered in their family, you vent them a thousandfold on me."
"You even taught your son how to beat me, how to deal with me, and how to make me submit."
"I had planned to kill them and deal with you last, but you ran out first."
"Haha! Good! I will deal with both of you hateful mother and son!"
Luo Wen Tao's eyes turned scarlet, her resentment reaching its peak at this moment, engulfing the mother and son.
The old woman and the middle-aged man screamed incessantly, their voices pleading for mercy.
Their pleas gradually weakened.
When the resentment left them, both were left with wide, staring eyes, their bodies frozen in the posture of begging.
Luo Wen Tao's face showed a look of relief. With the death of this family, her resentment gradually dissipated.
Zhao Yan got up and walked towards the village exit. Just as she reached the village entrance, she heard a series of foolish giggles.
Turning back, she saw a woman covered in mud, squatting down and giggling at the mother and son.
"She was also trafficked here, but she couldn't bear it, leading to mental instability and becoming a simpleton."
"Even so, the man who bought her still treated her as a breeding machine."
"She once, like me, wanted to escape this place."
"But her luck was much worse than mine."
"However, in the end, my luck wasn't very good either, just a little bit, just a little bit!"
Luo Wen Tao muttered to herself, scratching her head, her Yin energy constantly rising.
Zhao Yan closed her eyes and said, "I have never been here."
Luo Wen Tao's face showed gratitude. She bowed deeply to Zhao Yan, then turned away. The village immediately erupted in a series of tragic screams.
The reason why the women trafficked to this village couldn't escape was that the people in the village helped each other.
If anyone's wife ran away, they would immediately capture her or report her whereabouts.
Zhao Yan waited for half an hour, and Luo Wen Tao returned.
She was followed by five women.
"Please take them down the mountain. They are all unfortunate souls."
"And my son."
At this point, Luo Wen Tao's face showed a pained expression. Although she was reluctant to admit it, he was indeed her child.
"Please help me take my son to my mother, and tell my mother on my behalf, I am sorry!"
Zhao Yan sighed and said, "Your parents are already gone. They searched for you tirelessly for many years and passed away with regrets."
As long as parents are alive, one's life has a place to return to; when parents are gone, life only has a path to its end.