Little Lotus obediently extended her hands, not daring to defy.

At that moment, Lin's mother raised the wooden stick, putting on a show.

Seeing the fierce expression on her mother's face, Little Lotus was very scared and felt her mother might genuinely punish her.

However, things had come to this point, and even if she was scared, she couldn't back down. So, she braced herself and let her mother beat her with the stick.

Lin's mother quickly swung the little stick down, and it seemed like she was really going to punish Little Lotus harshly.

Little Lotus also heard the swift whooshing sound of the stick slicing through the air, which made her already nervous and scared heart even more terrified.

Just when she thought she was about to be tortured by great pain the next moment, the stick suddenly stopped and then gently tapped on her hand, not hurting her.

At this point, she opened her eyes and looked at her mother with a puzzled expression, not understanding why she did that.

"Alright! The punishment is over, you can get up now," Lin's mother called out.

"Mom! You're cheating!" Little Lotus puffed up with anger, but she was deeply moved.

"Cheating is better than hurting my own daughter. You should have seen how timid you were just now. If I had really hit you with the stick, I believe you would be sobbing by now," Lin's mother rolled her eyes, speaking in annoyance.

Then she went to help Little Lotus get up.

Little Lotus was very touched, and then threw herself into her mother's embrace, crying bitterly.

Because she had acted rashly due to her youth, she had made a lot of mistakes, but her parents not only did not blame her but also took all the responsibility upon themselves; nothing was more magnificent than this love; so she was very moved.

"Alright, alright! Silly child, don't cry. It's not your fault; all the responsibility is on us," Lin's mother continued to stroke her head to comfort her, easing her self-reproaching heart.

Before long, Zhou Jiajia, An Qi, Su Qingqing, Little Fang, and Lin Yifan came one after another to the living room. Seeing Little Lotus suddenly throw herself crying into Lin's mother's arms, they curiously asked, "What happened? What's the matter?"

"It's nothing. Little Lotus just hasn't seen us for a long time, so she suddenly got a bit sentimental," Lin's father responded.

"Is that so? I think she is crying out of guilt," Lin Yifan responded with a cold laugh.

"Enough, don't tear open your sister's heart wounds. You are no better than her," Lin's mother scolded.

"Right, right, right, I indeed owe an apology to this family," Lin Yifan admitted sincerely and then deeply bowed to Lin's father, Lin's mother, and Little Lotus, seriously saying, "I'm sorry."

"Alright, we're a family; there's nothing to be sorry for, get up quickly," Lin's mother called out.

Afterward, Little Lotus, Lin's mother, Lin's father, and Lin Yifan went one after another to take a shower. After the showers, it was time to decide on the sleeping arrangements for tonight.

Lin Yifan volunteered eagerly, proposing his own distribution plan: "I think, I should sleep with Jiajia and Qiqi; Qingqing, Fangfang, and Little Lotus should sleep together; mom and dad, you old couple should sleep together."

Hearing Lin Yifan wanted them to share his bed, Zhou Jiajia and An Qi blushed. Lin Yifan was a big flirt, and surely he wouldn't be calm at night; if they really slept with him, they would certainly be too excited. But, if they didn't sleep with Lin Yifan, then with whom should they sleep?

Just as they were at a loss, Lin's mother suddenly stood up and said no to Lin Yifan: "No! This arrangement won't work. Men and women should not share a bed before marriage, as it would bring bad luck; they can only share a bed after getting married."

"But, Jiajia and Qiqi have already given me their hearts, they already belong to me, it's just lacking a piece of paper, isn't that allowed?" Lin Yifan inquired.

"No means no, that's the tradition of our rural folks," Lin's mother answered.

"Mom! What era are we in that you still adhere to these feudal customs?" Lin Yifan was exasperated beyond measure.

He had originally planned to flirt with the two beauties, Jiajia and Qiqi, but little did he know his dream would be dashed.

"It's not superstition, it's tradition, do you understand? We can't break the rules! Breaking them would cause great trouble. If the Buddha behind the mountain knew you shared a bed before marriage, he would definitely curse you," Lin's mother retorted.

Lin Yifan knew exactly which Buddha his mother was referring to, and in fact, he had another mission for this visit: to venture into the cave on the back mountain that the villagers deemed forbidden.

Previously, he lacked the strength, and since there were indeed cases of people who entered and couldn't come out, he had always been afraid to enter; but now that he was a powerful Cultivator, he wanted to see just how formidable the Buddha behind the mountain was, and also to solve the mysteries of the cave's curse and its devouring enigma.

Speakers unintentionally drop hints, and listeners with purpose may pick them up; Fangfang, also a Cultivator, seemed to have sensed some eerie news as well. Who exactly was the Buddha behind the mountain?

In fact, when she arrived in Qingshi Town, she felt the entire town was enveloped by a strange force; only she had thought it was a hallucination caused by the fatigue of a long journey, so she hadn't paid it any mind. Now it seemed that Qingshi Town truly harbored something odd.

"Alright, alright! If that's the case, I'll just sleep with Dad. You six women can split between two beds, that should be fine, right?" Lin Yifan didn't want to be stubborn anymore.

His mother's beliefs were deeply ingrained and immovable, so he had to comply with her wishes, or else he wouldn't be able to rest tonight.

"That's more like it," Lin's mother was very satisfied.

Thus, their family would avoid being cursed by the Buddha behind the mountain.

After Lin Yifan decided to sleep with Lin's father, the final arrangement was made: Lin's mother would sleep with Zhou Jiajia and An Qi. Qingqing, Fangfang, and Xiao Lian, the younger women, would share another bed.

In the dead of night, as Lin Yifan and his family slept, a sinister energy was released from the back mountain, shrouding the entire Qingshi Town like a demonic claw.

"Hee hee! The scent of prey,"

a ghostly voice echoed across the skies of Qingshi Town.

At that moment, Lin Yifan and Fangfang simultaneously opened their eyes and then got out of bed to look out the window, to investigate further.

They saw only the bright moon hanging in the sky, the gentle breeze as usual, nothing out of the ordinary, nothing amiss.

"Strange, there was definitely a sound? Why did it suddenly disappear?" Lin Yifan and Fangfang were both puzzled and baffled.

The ghostly voice they heard earlier had been emitted using Inner Strength, audible only to Cultivators; thus, both he and Fangfang had risen.

"A fine Buddha indeed, I want to see if you are truly a Buddha, or a demon," Lin Yifan made up his mind.

He decided to finish up the family matters first, and then go meet the being revered as Buddha on the back mountain.

Meanwhile, Fangfang decided to wait until dawn, to tell Lin Yifan about the experience they had that night, and seek his advice.

With a plan in place, the two went back to bed to rest.

Time hurried by, and the night passed quietly without further incident.

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