I’d barely caught my breath—hadn’t even gotten the chance to fake a fainting spell—

  when whoosh!

  The white veil over the ancestral shrine rippled again.

  Scarlet letters began to bloom across the cloth:

  [Third Case: The Bloody Foot Demon Attacks a Village Woman — Suspected to Be a Reversed Soul of the Qu Clan.]

  A shiver ran through me so hard I nearly fell off the damn divine seat.

  “Again?!”

  Lian stood with hands folded in his sleeves, eyes narrowing slightly at the new writing.

  Hua’s fan paused mid-swing; he gave a quiet laugh.

  “So last night’s monster wasn’t just a bedtime story.”

  My throat tightened. That night came back too easily—

  the three of us forced to sleep in a half-collapsed hut,

  the wind howling,

  and those steps outside—

  clack... clack...

  as if the old ghosts of the village were still limping through their nightmares.

  One black foot, one white.

  One long, one short.

  Marching straight into our dreams—

  or maybe straight into our souls.

  That “thing” had nearly scared me into inventing a new folk dance on the spot just to stay alive.

  And only now did I realize—

  that monster was the final “villain” of the Three Cases of Qu?

  I swallowed. “That ghost... who even is it?”

  The red threads stirred again, and another line appeared on the veil:

  ‘The ghost is the former patriarch of the Qu Clan.’

  “...The old patriarch?” I blurted.

  Lian’s gaze darkened. “Most likely the head of the Qu bloodline.”

  “Wait—” Hua cut in, snapping his fan shut. “Didn’t the child ghost from the first case say the Daoist sealed the village with the vow ‘one clan for one offering’? You don’t think he—”

  My mind flashed back to the illusion —

  the ancestral hall, the wooden plaque, the kneeling villagers.

  “You mean he offered himself—and his whole family?”

  Lian nodded. “If so, he became the first soul of the seal, bearing the weight of the other two.”

  “Then why’s he turned into that? Half black, half white, one leg shorter than the other, and biting anyone with normal feet?”

  Hua sighed. “If you seal yourself for a hundred years without rest, abandoning your human form... you’d go mad too.”

  Lian said softly, “After a century of isolation, the Qu villagers began to believe crooked legs were the true human form. To them, we—the outsiders—are the monsters.”

  A cold chill crawled up my spine.

  “So that... shape of his,” I whispered, “the uneven legs, the split colors—why?”

  Lian lowered his gaze. “Unknown.”

  Hua twirled his fan again and smiled faintly. “Give it a few more generations, they’ll probably forget that legs were ever supposed to be the same length.”

  I looked back up at the veil. The new letters still bled, the light catching the wet scarlet strokes.

  Something in my chest sank.

  This “Foot Demon” wasn’t some evil ghost.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  He was a man—

  the one who’d chosen to sacrifice himself a century ago, severing his bloodline just to keep the village alive.

  He just wasn’t human anymore.

  I muttered, “Seems like these days, the only people who aren’t human anymore... are the good ones.”

  System: “...”

  Me: “Don’t comment.”

  System: “...Acknowledged.”

  The veil shimmered again.

  New words appeared—old, uneven, like they’d been written in another age:

  ‘My name is Qu Chensheng, once head of the Qu clan. I sealed my soul for a hundred years—to keep this village alive.’

  A tremor went through me.

  “Wait,” I said slowly, “what if… these three trials weren’t about banishing evil at all? What if they were meant to save someone?”

  Lian’s eyes flicked toward me. “Go on.”

  I held up three fingers. “First case, the child’s offering—used as the new seal. Second case, the woman in the well—an error, but meant to purify the water. Third case, this Blood-Foot Monster… not a curse, but a guardian.”

  “You’re saying he used his own soul to hold the seal in place?”

  Lian nodded. “That interpretation fits.”

  Hua tapped his fan thoughtfully. “Then the veil’s so-called ‘ritual of release’ isn’t for exorcism... it’s for resurrection.”

  My brain goes numb. “Resurrection?! You say that like it’s as easy as ordering noodles!”

  More words appeared:

  ‘If the god-lord speaks my name, honors my vow, and grants me human form, I shall release the seal and rest.’

  “The god-lord...Me?” I croaked. They put me on the divine seat.

  Hua grinned. “You’re the god-lord. Might as well earn the title.”

  Lian silently placed the wooden talisman into my trembling hand. “You do it.”

  I almost dropped it. “You two stop smiling—my survival rate runs entirely on sarcasm!”

  But the bloodlines in the floor were already pulsing red, the shrine trembling, the threads writhing up my legs like snakes, urging me to speak.

  I clenched my teeth, raised the talisman, and shouted,

  “Qu Chensheng—”

  The instant the name left my mouth—

  A roar erupted from behind the shrine!

  Cold air burst from the old well, the wind spinning ash into a spiral—

  and from that ash rose a woman’s spirit.

  Her hair hung loose, her robes soaked in blood, half her face burned black.

  Her lips curved in a smile, but her eyes blazed.

  Qu Yao.

  The woman sacrificed in the well.

  She screamed—

  “Stop!”

  The veil flared red again.

  “If he regains his form, his power returns—you’ll never contain him!

  I died for this seal—how dare you undo it before I’m freed!”

  Her fury nearly knocked me backward.

  I could feel the air warping with her voice.

  Lian’s stance shifted, fingers forming a sword seal.

  Hua frowned but didn’t move, his eyes glinting coldly.

  The veil flashed one last time:

  [Honor my vow. Restore my form. Return my soul to earth.]

  While the woman’s spirit cried out,

  “He was the one who condemned me!

  If a soul must be freed, mine should come first!”

  I froze completely.

  Blood sigils rising beneath me, two ghosts arguing over who deserved reincarnation first—

  and my system was dead silent.

  “System,” I croaked, “where the hell are you?”

  No response.

  I had seconds before the spell locked in.

  So I made a choice.

  Gritting my teeth, I lifted the talisman and yelled:

  “Qu Chensheng! You’ve guarded this village for a hundred years—your sin was sacrifice, not malice!

  By the title of god-lord, I return your name, your vow, your body, your clan!”

  Light burst from the sigil like dawn breaking through blood.

  The red threads snapped one by one, the shrine trembling as the seal shattered.

  And from within—he rose.

  A towering shadow stepped forth, still bound in red cords—one black foot, one white, hair like a storm cloud.

  But as the bindings fell away, the color drained, the robes turned to coarse linen, and the fire faded.

  He wasn’t a monster anymore.

  Just an old man, worn and calm, eyes clear as autumn water.

  He bowed low before me.

  “Thank you… god-lord.”

  That single “god-lord” was soft—

  yet it struck like a pebble tossed into a still pond, the echo rippling through my chest.

  Behind him, faint embers flickered where Qu Yao’s spirit had been.

  She said nothing now—her anger gone, her form thinning to light.

  And in the quiet sigh of the wind, she, too, faded away.

  Hua watched her go, voice low.

  “She didn’t return to the well.”

  Lian answered softly,

  “She was never meant to. She was a spirit of grievance, not a guardian.”

  The red threads dissolved, the white veil unraveled into motes of light.

  The shrine fell silent.

  No more curses.

  No more screams.

  Just the still air of a place that could finally rest.

  [Case Three: The Foot Demon — Form of Qu Chensheng — Resolved.]

  [The Three Seals of Form — Broken.]

  [The Qu Clan’s Binding — Released.]

  I slumped into the divine seat, gasping.

  “Finally… finally done!”

  Lian quietly straightened my robe.

  “You did well,” he said gently.

  For a second, I almost believed him.

  Hua yawned. “Truly impressive, oh living god of Qu Shan Village.”

  “Shut up.” I rubbed my temples. “Make one more joke about me being worshipped, and I’ll leave you here as a village offering.”

  He grinned behind his fan. “Yes, yes, my lord god. My deepest apologies.”