Chapter 42

"That looks like a village." I saw wooden houses appearing in front of me. This should be the different place we saw there.

Actually, that's true. There are obvious traces of human activity in the second half of the road we are walking on, so it is normal for houses to appear here, but it is not normal for a village to appear in this deep mountain forest.

"Be careful." Liu Danchen said.

He probably also felt that the appearance of a village here was a bit unusual.

"Let's go anyway. We have a place to rest tonight. I don't want to sleep outside. Those bugs are too weird." I said.

At this time, the sun was about to set, and the afterglow shone on the wooden houses, dyeing the black bark into golden red.

We walked into the village and saw that the houses had triangular roofs, all made from nearby trees. Each house had no yard and faced the street. The wooden houses were covered in dust, suggesting they hadn't been inhabited for a long time.

Liu Danchen knocked on the door and asked loudly, "Is anyone there?"

I knocked on several doors but no one responded.

"This house looks dilapidated and no one probably lives there," I said.

"Indeed, everyone in this remote area should have moved away. Then why don't we find a house to stay in for the night?" Liu Danchen asked.

I pushed open the door, and the smell of rotting wood hit me in the face. I quickly stepped back and turned to Liu Danchen and said, "Let's let the smell dissipate before going in."

Liu Danchen looked inside the house and said, "I'll go find some firewood."

"I'll go with you," I said.

We went door to door collecting firewood, but some of the wood had already rotted and crumbled into dust when we touched it, making it completely useless. Unexpectedly, making fire was a problem; there was no dry wood at all.

Finally, we had no choice but to go back into the woods and pick up some fallen branches. By the time we had collected enough, it was dark.

The two of us returned to the cabin, where the rotten smell had faded and was barely habitable.

I didn’t expect that the small wooden house had a fireplace.

This is definitely not the architectural style here. First of all, here, every household has a yard, and there will never be a fireplace in the house.

Liu Danchen placed some firewood in the fireplace and lit it with tinder. The dark room suddenly became bright. It was then that I realized this fireplace was unusual. As the fireplace ignited, I didn't know how the walls were designed, but there was a light point every meter. This made it possible to illuminate the entire room without turning on any lights.

The room is covered with pure wooden floors, so even if you sit on the floor, you won't feel cold. This seems to be the intention when the room was designed. I only saw a table that was knee-low, which was perfect for sitting on the floor.

I dusted the table and gave the floor a quick clean. Liu Danchen brought out some food and water, and we sat down at the table, joking about our day.

"What on earth are those bugs today?" Liu Danchen said.

When I heard him mention those insects, the densely packed scene emerged in my mind and I couldn't help but get goosebumps again.

"I don't know what the hell that is."

"It seems that this Shade Mountain is not simple."

"Where can we find the Soul-Breaking Grass in this vast mountain?"

Liu Danchen was silent for a while after hearing what I said. Finding a blade of grass in Zhaiyang Mountain is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

As we chatted, we both felt sleepy. After a day of walking on the mountain road and eating, fatigue was overwhelming. Liu Danchen yawned and said, "Let's get some rest early. We have to travel again tomorrow."

As soon as he finished speaking, a light snoring sound was heard.

My upper eyelid was fighting with my lower eyelid, and in the end I couldn't open it anymore, so I also fell into a deep sleep.

I don't know how long I slept before I was woken by a burst of voices. I opened my eyes and saw Liu Danchen still sleeping soundly. I struggled to stand up, opened the door and looked outside.

I thought I was half asleep when a group of people gathered outside my door. They all had oddly ovoid heads, thick eyebrows, mustaches, and long braids. Their clothing was also distinctive: all wore the same jacket.

When they saw me push the door open, they all took a step back and looked at me in surprise.

I looked into the distance again and saw that every house was lit up. The village, which was deserted during the day, was now bustling with people and brightly lit.

I hurried back and woke Liu Danchen up.

Liu Danchen looked at me blankly, obviously not knowing why I woke him up in the middle of the night.

"Brother Danchen, please look outside."

In fact, I didn't even need to tell her; a few people had already poked their heads in. They were looking at the door but didn't dare to go in.

Senior Brother Liu suddenly regained consciousness and asked me blankly, "What is this?"

"I don't know either." I shook my head.

When Liu Danchen and I walked to the door, these people stepped back and looked at us carefully, looking a little scared.

Liu Danchen bowed to the group in front of him and said, "Fellow villagers, we are new here and since no one is here, we decided to stay for the night. I don't know whose house we occupied, but it was not our intention to trespass."

After hearing what Liu Danchen said, those people began to whisper to each other.

"It's been a long time since we've had any strangers here."

"They live in Shengzi's house."

"That little girl is pretty, but her face is a little dirty."

Listening to what the person behind me said, I felt a little embarrassed. I had been running around for so long during the day and had no clean water to wash my face, so it was normal to be a little dirty.

Liu Danchen and I were standing in front of the door. They didn't dare to get close. I just heard them mention Shengzi and shouted, "Who's calling Shengzi?"

At this time, a strong man in his twenties was pushed out by the crowd.

He looked at the two of us with somewhat evasive eyes and stood timidly at the front.

"We both stumbled upon this place today and are so exhausted. We'd like to stay overnight at your place. How about that?"

Shengzi didn't answer, but others started to murmur:

"Why do you want to occupy the leftover house?"

"Yeah, where are the rest of you going to live?"

"The little girl looks pretty, but she's so unreasonable."

Listening to them talking and pointing fingers at me, I felt embarrassed and was about to get angry.

Seeing this, Liu Danchen quickly covered my mouth and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, we'll leave now."

He nodded and pulled me out.

We made way for the crowd, but they continued to mutter and point at us.

"Aren't we already out?" I shouted at them.

The sound was particularly loud at night. They looked at me with horror on their faces, then turned into blue light and went into the wooden houses.

Liu Danchen and I stared at this scene in a daze, unable to come back to our senses for a long time.

"What's going on?" Liu Danchen said in amazement.

I had no idea why these people turned into blue light and flew away after I yelled at them. I glanced at Liu Danchen and said, "Are they all ghosts?"

Liu Danchen pondered, and he must have remembered something. He slapped his forehead and said, "I know, these are cowards!"

coward?

Thinking back on their actions, I realized they were probably just cowards. Cowards aren't just incredibly timid, they're also incredibly talkative. If you get caught up in them, they'll point fingers and chatter endlessly. But cowards can't hurt anyone, and they don't even dare approach humans because their ghost energy is so weak that the yang fire of humans would burn them to death.