WBICDPH Chapter 66 Part 1

Chapter 66: The Sinister Flower of the Seven Emotions

“…No. We should leave first.”

Lin Jin took a deep breath, forcing down the strange surge of emotion roiling in his chest. He retrieved a Qingxin Pill from his storage ring and swallowed it. Without continuing to argue with Zhou’s mother, he turned and walked straight into the neighboring Zhu family courtyard.

Zhou’s mother continued to shout insults behind him. Hearing her voice, Lin Jin felt his heart pound wildly, his mind filling with extreme and dangerous thoughts. He clenched his fists at his sides, his nails digging into his palms. The sharp sting helped him regain a sliver of clarity.

He forced himself to calm down. Only after stepping into the Zhu family’s small courtyard and setting up a soundproof barrier did the strange impulses in his body finally fade along with the grating noise.

Lin Jin was not someone who lost control of his emotions. On the contrary, having grown up dependent on others and constantly reading people’s moods, he was very good at restraining himself.

His behavior just now had been far too strange.

It was as if someone had stuffed a firecracker inside him—one spark and it exploded in a crackling frenzy.

Something had influenced his temperament without his noticing, making him unusually emotional, nothing like himself. Like…

Several faces flashed through his mind: the guide uncle, the washerwoman, a passerby, and Zhou’s mother. The one thing those faces had in common was that they were all twisted by negative emotions until they looked like monsters.

Ever since entering Double Happiness Village, they had been steeped in the villagers’ malice. Lin Jin had previously assumed the sour expressions and constant quarrels were due to psychological issues caused by being trapped here for years. But now it seemed…

“It’s the flower.”

Lin Jin said it with certainty.

If the force that twisted people’s temperaments and stirred up emotions was hidden in the air or somewhere else, there was no reason only he would be affected.

For example, when arguing with Zhou’s mother, Hua Nanzhi and Xiao Yunkong had been far calmer than he was. Xiao Yunkong aside, even Miss Hua—whose personality couldn’t tolerate the slightest irritation—would have exploded even faster and more fiercely if she had been influenced.

Yet Hua Nanzhi not only hadn’t lost her temper, but she had also even stopped Lin Jin from saying harsher things. That alone suggested she likely hadn’t been affected.

Since entering the village, Lin Jin had done only one thing, the other two hadn’t—

He had eaten that Death Spirit Flower.

Following that line of thought, everything made sense.

For years, the entire village had survived on the Death Spirit Flower. No wonder there wasn’t a single smiling face in the village apart from the odd Zhao Kang. No wonder arguments erupted at the slightest provocation. No wonder the air was filled with quarrels and crying from every direction.

And yet, something still felt off.

According to Zhao Kang, the Death Spirit Flower had covered the fields overnight on the day Zhu Eryao took her own life. But the flower grew on ghostly energy. Even if Zhu Eryao had become a red-robed ghost, her ghostly energy shouldn’t have been enough to nourish so many flowers in such a short time.

“… ”

Lin Jin frowned slightly and took out his botanical notebook from his storage ring.

Hua Nanzhi had been waiting for him to continue. Seeing him suddenly start flipping through a book, she couldn’t help asking:

“What flower? Why did you stop? Are you saying your sudden outburst just now was caused by that flower?”

“Exactly,” Lin Jin nodded.

“Oh! That explains it! So it’s a bad-mood flower. No wonder everyone in this village acts so crazy and unfriendly. Eating bad-mood flowers every day—of course, they’d be irritable!”

Hua Nanzhi crossed her arms and thought for a moment before adding:

“But do you think this was a coincidence, or done deliberately? If there’s someone behind the scenes using this bad-mood flower to create all that negativity, what’s their goal?”

“… ”

Lin Jin had been searching for the section on the Death Spirit Flower. Hearing that, his hand suddenly froze.

“Wait.”

“Huh?”

“What did you just say? Say it again.”

Hua Nanzhi blinked, slightly confused.

“I said—was it a coincidence or deliberate?”

“Not that part.”

“Then… someone used the bad-mood flower to create so much negativity?”

“Exactly!”

It was as if a lock in Lin Jin’s mind had suddenly clicked open. He flipped through the pages faster as he continued:

“When we were in the mist earlier, Senior Brother said ghostly energy is actually the fusion of a soul’s power with negative emotions—resentment, sorrow, grief, pain. But there’s only one red-robed ghost in Double Happiness Village. How could she possibly have enough power to trap the entire village? So rather than pure ghostly energy, the mist trapping this place is more likely solidified negative emotion, condensed by human means. The red-robed ghost’s energy is just the medium. What’s truly trapping the village are the emotions of nearly a hundred villagers.”

Hua Nanzhi struggled to follow his reasoning.

“So you’re saying the villagers are actually trapping themselves? They eat the Death Spirit Flower, which gives them bad emotions. Those bad emotions then feed the ghostly mist. It becomes a vicious cycle, and that’s why they’ve been trapped for so many years.”

“Exactly. And I’m starting to doubt whether that thing is even the real Death Spirit Flower.”

“If it’s not the Death Spirit Flower, then what is it?”

“Miss Hua, do you remember?”

Lin Jin glanced at her.

“Half a year ago, we mistook a juvenile Flame Cloud Sparrow for a Red-Feathered Mountain Fowl because they looked almost identical. The only difference was the number of crest feathers on their foreheads. Many plants and animals in the cultivation world are like that—similar in appearance, but a small detail makes all the difference.