Chapter Thirty-Seven: Dead Village

  The little brother's words made me feel a surge of passion and enthusiasm. It turned out that I wasn't useless after all, but was also trusted and needed by others.

  "I patted my chest and replied, 'Alright, as long as I'm alive, Eighth Grandfather will definitely be alive too!'"

  The little brother looked at me with satisfaction, casually flicked the long hair on his forehead, snapped his fingers, "OK!", and then turned around and walked towards the direction of the village entrance.

  I touched the machete hidden in my clothes behind me, tightened my clothes, and didn't rush back to Gaoba's medicine hut. Instead, I went to the empty grassland at the village entrance where the theater was set up.

  The empty lawn in front of the village entrance was bustling with people coming and going. More than a dozen sturdy men wearing aprons were busy binding large tree branches together with steel wire and then covering them with wooden boards.

  And below the stage were many children and adults watching the excitement, I mixed in with the onlookers to carefully observe my surroundings.

  I found that behind the stage was a mountain, and in front of it, more than 100 meters away, was that ancient well that had been cursed and the crooked-necked old locust tree.

  The village chief, why would he set up a stage in such a place that makes people shiver just thinking about it, I don't understand.

  I was lost in thought when a hand suddenly grabbed my shoulder from behind.

  Who? My heart skipped a beat as I suddenly turned around, almost bumping into a face.

  It's actually Yatou!

  The silly girl smiled foolishly and whispered in my ear, "Come with me!"

  Follow her? What does that mean? I was stunned for a moment, and before I knew it, the little girl had already turned around with a silly grin on her face and skipped away.

  She walked and sang, "The bronze bell warns, the old well is dead; The back mountain makes a disturbance, chickens and dogs are not peaceful; Guests come to celebrate longevity, the whole village is desolate, the whole village is desolate..."

  Everyone cast her a look of disgust and parted to make way for her.

  The girl didn't care at all, still smiling foolishly and jumping forward with a bounce.

  "Huh, no way! She's heading towards the Hou Shan Duan Hun Mountain? What is this girl trying to do? My heart skipped a beat as I looked around at the crowd of onlookers and followed after her."

  As I passed the ancient well at the village entrance and that crooked-necked old locust tree, I vaguely saw Lyu'er's figure standing on the not-too-distant mountain slope, standing there with a lively air, as if waiting for me!

  I hesitated for a moment and walked up the mountain slope.

  The girl was indeed waiting for me. She changed that silly look of hers and gave a strange smile, "Big brother, I'll take you to a place!"

  "Where is it?" I asked reflexively.

  The little girl winked her big eyes, "You'll know when you go! In short, I absolutely won't harm you!"

  "Is it far?" I asked, remembering what Xiao Ge had told me.

  "I'll be back before dark. If you don't come out of Duanhun Mountain before dark, I'm afraid and you're not?" Yatou said, turning around and walking away, "Don't tell me you don't have the guts to follow a weak and delicate girl like me into the mountain?"

  Actually, I would have followed her even if she hadn't urged me to, because I believe what she says is true. It's just that I'm not sure where she's going to take me, and I'm a bit uneasy about it!

  Judging from this appearance, the girl in front of me is not only not stupid, but also must be hiding a surprising secret!

  The girl led me quickly into the Soul-Breaking Mountain.

  The mountain is still shrouded in mist, the sun is shining brightly outside, but inside it's gloomy and windy, making me involuntarily think of the 80,000 vengeful spirits that my younger brother once told me about...

  I shivered all over and quickened my pace to catch up with Yatou, walking shoulder to shoulder with her.

  All the way, neither I nor Ya Tou spoke, and the two of us walked through the misty dense forest. Ya Tou seemed to be quite familiar with the route, and every time we came to a bend, she could find the way forward as long as she slightly recognized it.

  At first, I was quite puzzled, but after turning several corners, I discovered that on a large tree at each turn, there was a big circle drawn with stones, which was obviously a road sign. Moreover, if I'm not mistaken, these circles were carved by the village head!

  After walking for about two hours, Ya Tou led me through a 500-meter-long stone cave and arrived at a place.

  Suddenly, it was bright and clear before my eyes, and what appeared in front of me was a village.

  The girl stopped in her tracks, a pretty face streaming with sweat staring intently at me, saying "We're here!"

  "Have we arrived? What village is this?" I asked.

  "I don't know either. I stumbled upon this village by accident when I got lost on Duanhun Mountain last year. But... but there's no one in the village!" Yatou replied.

  "Is there nobody in the village? Are you saying... this village is an abandoned settlement?"

  "Yes!"

  "What did you bring me here for?" I asked cautiously.

  "There's no other meaning, I just...just feel that this village is strange, so I brought you over to take a look!" The girl finished speaking and turned around to head into the village.

  In the depths of Duanhun Mountain, there was actually an abandoned village, which I did not expect. However, why did this village become abandoned and where did its residents go?

  My heart skipped a beat.

  Although I had already known from the young girl's mouth that there was not a single living person in this village, I still took out the mountain-cutting knife hidden on my body and held it in my hand, just in case.

  I walked while sizing up the dwellings nestled in the village, which was eerily quiet. It's not that the villagers had all died out, but rather the entire village itself seemed to have died.

  I couldn't see a single wild chicken or a wild dog, nor was there any wild grass growing on the ground. The surroundings were eerily quiet, with only an occasional gust of wind blowing through the gaps between the rocks, making a mournful whistling sound.

  I walked about ten meters and took a look at the civilian residence in front of me. Suddenly I raised my hand and shouted in a low voice, "Wait!"

  The girl's sudden cry stopped her advancing footsteps, and she halted in front of the civilian residence before us.

  The door of this civilian house had long been worn out, and I gently pushed it. With a "crash", it fell down, raising a layer of dust.

  I walked through the dusty fog, taking Ya Tou inside with me.

  Like many impoverished mountain village residents, inside was a house with food and lodging combined, with a stone bed placed beside the stove.

  I went in because I saw through the window that there seemed to be a person lying on the stone bed. Although I knew it was very likely to be a dead person, my strong curiosity still made me unable to help but go in and take a look.

  Sure, here is the translation:

  As expected, on the stone bed lay a human figure, lying on its side with its back to us, clothes covered in dust. Judging from the clothing, it should be a woman.

  I plucked up my courage and carefully hooked the woman's corpse with the machete in my hand, and it suddenly turned over.

  Suddenly, a "crack" sound was heard, and something fell from the skeleton of that woman!

  What was it? I stood still for a moment, staring blankly at the ground, and found that it was just a very small skeleton.

  I suddenly understood, it turned out that this woman had died with her child in her arms!

  Women and children have long since turned into skeletons, empty eye sockets staring up at the sky together, as if recounting a terrifying experience from decades or even hundreds of years ago.

  I had never seen a corpse before and was frightened, standing there speechless.

  The girl pulled at my sleeve and asked, "What's wrong? Have you found something?"

  "I don't know how this woman and the child in her womb died," I shook my head and said, "But it's really strange, there are no wounds on their bodies, nor does it seem like a plague attack. They just suddenly died, as if there was an invisible killer that killed them without leaving any trace, it's really too strange!"

  "Never mind," said Ah Hei faintly. "Anyway, no one cares about our affairs. Let's go somewhere else and take a look around. Who knows what we might find?"

  "Uh-huh." I replied and left the house with Ya Tou.

  I and Xiao Tou walked forward for about 400 to 500 meters, a withered and huge pagoda tree appeared in front of me. The air in front of the pagoda tree was clear, but behind it was thick fog.

  This pagoda tree is like a boundary between the yin and yang worlds. This side is the world of the living, while that side is the underworld.

  Here, there is also a strange old locust tree? My heart was shaken, I don't know how, the more I looked at this locust tree in front of me, the more it seemed like a strange monster, its withered branches stretched out like a pair of magical hands, as if they wanted to grab me and Ya Tou away to eat. I suddenly shivered with fear!

  "Wait!" I cried out urgently.

  It may be too late now. The girl walking in front had already entered the thick fog behind the old locust tree, and her slender figure disappeared instantly.

  I was greatly startled and hastily chased after her, but where was her figure in the thick fog? Everywhere my eyes touched were only white misty water and pitch-black ruins.

  "Ya Tou, Ya Tou!" I couldn't help but call out her name loudly in the thick fog, searching everywhere.

  The misty rain slowly wetted my hair, and in the daze, I seemed to see a thin figure kneeling on the ground not far away.

  I was overjoyed and walked over to give him a big slap on the back, forcing a smile and saying, "You little scamp, what's wrong with you? I've been searching everywhere for you and was scared to death!"

  The man remained kneeling on the ground, motionless, his eyes fixed straight ahead.

  I was stunned, only to find that the person kneeling on the ground wasn't Ya Tou, but surprisingly it was Autumn Swallow from Phoenix Inn, whom I had met this afternoon wearing a crimson robe!

  Why didn't she return to the inn and appear in this dead village instead?

  I couldn't help but look for Ya Tou, and called out in a low voice, "Qiu Yan, how is it you?"

  The wild goose kneeling on the ground still did not make a sound, staring blankly ahead.

  I followed her gaze and was taken aback at once.

  In front of Qiu Yan was a grave, and the grave had been dug up. The coffin had been pried open, and the corpse inside had been dug out and scattered randomly on the ground.

  I forced a smile and said, "Qiu Yan, what's wrong with you? Dead men's bones, what's there to look at?"

  The autumn wild goose shuddered all over, scrambled to its feet and rushed past like a madman, picked up a skull and held it in its arms, and two lines of tears flowed down its white and beautiful cheeks.

  The skull in hand, hugged tightly like a treasure. Forbidden spirit

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