The old man in Silent Village was seven hundred years old; I believed he wouldn't be wrong. Granny was over a hundred, certainly past the age of uncertainty. Piecing together both their accounts, the full nature of the Ghost Infant could be discerned. Normally, it would find a host, and upon draining them dry, it would decisively kill its host. However, upon smelling the aura of the Sea of Lost Souls, regardless of whether the host was fully drained, the Ghost Infant becomes bloodthirsty and violent, just as I encountered before.

Analyzing it this way, Monkey taking the Ghost Infant away actually saved Xiao Shu and Hua Gu’s lives. Because in the village, Xiao Shu and Hua Gu were essentially suffering a slow poisoning; returning to the Sea of Lost Souls would be an immediate execution. Those chosen by the Ghost Infant, almost without exception, meet a grim end.

However, at the same time the Ghost Infant was taken, Ah Li was also abducted. Ah Li is a genuine living person, and a child at that. That she was brought to the Sea of Lost Souls alongside the Ghost Infant raises my gravest concern: Will she become a target when the Ghost Infant’s bloodlust flares? She is truly pitiable; despite shouldering a sad family history from a young age, she remains so cheerful, lively, and eager to help others. I recall when Wang Jue and I returned to Xiangcheng from the Sea of Lost Souls, it was Ah Li, acting like a tiny adult, who rushed around from the kitchen bringing us food to comfort us. That moment of timely aid, delivered in the snow, remains vividly etched in my memory.

After much thought, the most perilous situation now is ironically not for the brainwashed Xiao Shu and Hua Gu, but for Ah Li, who was abducted with Xing'er. Xiao Shu and Hua Gu are adults after all; being brainwashed is not necessarily incurable. Ah Li is caught amidst Monkey and the Ghost Infant; her situation is truly perilously acute.

I felt increasingly compelled to act, to find a way to rescue that poor child. Thus, I said, "Granny, we must find a way to bring Ah Li back. She is innocent and should not suffer any harm."

Granny gave me an awkward smile and said, "You are still lucid! This old body of mine drifts in and out of clarity, otherwise I wouldn't have been brainwashed by the Ghost Child along with Hua Gu. When you arrived, I treated him like my own grandson, completely failing to realize how dangerous he was. If you go to the Sea of Lost Souls, remember to take this bottle. If you encounter any Shiren Mingchong (Mantis-Flesh Worms), bring a few back. I am weary of this life and hope for a proper resting place."

Saying this, she pulled a transparent glass bottle with a lid from her embrace and handed it to me. I took it and examined it closely, recognizing it as identical to the one Old He used before. The top of the lid was like a sieve, densely covered with small holes, but none were large, seemingly designed to allow the Shiren Mingchong to breathe.

Although I did not wish to see Granny meet this end, it was her own wish, and since she gave me the antidote to the curse, I had promised her I would grant this request. Therefore, unable to refuse, I tucked the bottle into my robes and agreed to do as she asked.

"I will go with you too!" Xiao Shu excitedly walked to my side, looking eager to set off.

"I want to go too; Xing'er must miss me terribly," Hua Gu said, getting up from the floor, leaning on Granny’s hand and pouting playfully.

These two are currently the most troublesome pair. If I had a choice, I would prefer not to take them to the Sea of Lost Souls. A band of monkey demons and a Ghost Infant are already difficult enough to handle; adding two spies who could betray me at any moment makes determining how to fight this battle a significant problem.