Chapter 9 The Vortex Gate Appears

Just as the group of ghosts were circling the three corpses, the village chief, who was squatting on the ground, suddenly stared at one of the ghosts and muttered, "Xiaoliang, it's Xiaoliang."

He rushed forward eagerly, grabbed the shoulders of one of the ghosts with both hands, and shook him hard.

"Xiaoliang, Xiaoliang, it's Daddy! Daddy is sorry for you... It's all Daddy's fault!"

No matter how he shook or cried out in tears, the ghost named Xiaoliang just lowered his head unconsciously without any reaction.

At this moment, he seemed to remember something, and his red eyes stared at Huiyuan who was playing the flute not far away with resentment.

Then he slowly released his hand on the ghost's shoulder, and suddenly rushed towards Huiyuan. He took away the flute that Huiyuan was playing while he was not paying attention, and smashed it hard on the ground. The flute broke into several pieces and scattered all around.

As the sound of the flute disappeared, the group of ghosts that had been tightly surrounding the three corpses on the ground dispersed.

The three corpses took the opportunity to break free from their restraints and looked up to the sky and screamed. They seemed extremely angry and turned around and pounced towards Huiyuan viciously. They madly bit Huiyuan's flesh and blood, swallowing it voraciously.

Huiyuan screamed, his hands still scratching the ground, trying to pick up the remaining magic weapon beside him for a final struggle, but his hands soon fell to the ground weakly.

They didn't give him a chance. They used their hands and feet to climb up Huiyuan's neck and pulled his head off by biting and breaking it.

The blood gushing from Huiyuan's neck instantly dyed the entire ground red. They lay on the ground gasping for breath as if they had gotten revenge.

Without the blessing of the flute sound, the souls of the dead began to disperse one after another.

The village chief held the soul of his son Lin Wenliang tightly and wailed continuously.

Xie Liang wondered if he was wailing about his mistakes, or about the extinction of his own family line, or perhaps both. Perhaps only he knew the answer.

The three corpses seemed to have rested enough and slowly surrounded the village chief.

The village chief knew that he could not escape death, so he knelt on the ground holding Lin Wenliang's soul and kept repenting.

Suddenly, he crashed into the stone pillar next to him as if with the determination to atone for his sins. The huge impact force caused his head to bleed, and the blood immediately splashed on the soul of the deceased named Lin Wenliang who was slowly leaving.

The ghost suddenly stopped after being stained with the village chief's blood, and paused for a moment as if waking up, staring blankly at everything in front of it.

The village chief fell to the ground, dying, and said, "Dad...it wasn't...meant to...my son..."

Before he could finish his words, the village chief died. Following his death, three corpses fell to the ground, emitting wisps of white smoke before disappearing without a trace.

The ghost returned to its previous confused and unconscious state and gradually disappeared on the pile of tablets on the ground.

The entire main hall was in a mess, with bloodstains, corpses, and tablets scattered all over the place.

Xie Liang saw from afar through the gate of the ancestral hall that the village chief's nephew Lin Tian and a few others were hurrying towards the ancestral hall. He quickly pulled Xu He around to the back of the ancestral hall.

"Hurry, village party secretary, something is going to happen! Lin Lan's family has turned into evil spirits and is here to seek revenge on my uncle!" Lin Tian said trembling as he walked.

"This is all his fault! Now he wants me, a man whose body is almost half buried in the ground, to clean up the mess!" A white-haired old man, leaning on a cane, said angrily.

They quickly entered the ancestral hall, where a chattering noise could be heard. After about half an hour, they gradually carried out the bodies and placed them on the open space to the side of the hall. They then poured a lot of kerosene and set them on fire.

The fire burned fiercely, illuminating the withered vegetation surrounding the ancestral hall. Soon, the flames gradually weakened, and Lin Tian, the village party secretary, and others locked the ancestral hall's door and left one after another.

Xie Liang and Xu He walked to the place where they had just burned the corpses and saw only charred ashes left on the ground.

"Do you want to go into the ancestral hall and take a look?" Xie Liang asked.

Xu He was looking at Xie Liang in the dim light: "What?"

"I mean, should we go inside the ancestral hall and take a look?"

"Um."

The two men used the old method again, inserting the black sword into the crack of the door and opening the door of the ancestral hall.

They walked all the way to the main hall, which had been cleaned and the fallen tablets had been straightened, with no traces of the previous tragedy.

"Are they afraid of delaying tomorrow's prayers? But they cleaned it up quite neatly." Xie Liang yawned as he spoke.

"Let's go back." Xu He said, looking at Xie Liang's two big dark circles under his eyes.

After the two men closed the door of the ancestral hall ajar, they returned to their residence carrying lanterns.

When he walked into the yard, Xie Liang walked up to the small coffin, picked up the small corpse inside, lit a fire at the gate of the yard to burn it, and said, "Rest in peace." Xie Liang hoped that their family could be reunited in another world.

After the burning was over, Xie Liang and Xu He returned to their room and lay down on the bed to take a nap.

The first ray of sunlight in the morning poured into the room through the window. Xie Liang gradually woke up, while Xu He was still sleeping soundly beside him.

Xie Liang glanced at Xu He's angular face and thought to himself, what a strange person. He didn't know if it was an illusion, but he always felt that he seemed to treat him differently.

Not long after, Xiao Ha and the others also got up. They chatted under the tree in the yard, planning their plans after returning to the real world.

Listening to their conversation, Xie Liang felt more relaxed. He got up and walked towards them.

"How do we get back? Will someone take us to find the vortex gate if we go to the ancestral hall?" Dai Tian asked anxiously.

"Yeah, how do I go back? Damn it, I can finally go back!" Li Dong said while stretching lazily.

"In the two copies I've played before, the vortex gate only appeared after hearing a bell. I think I should go to the ancestral hall and wait for the prayer to be completed before the vortex gate appears." Xiao Ha said uncertainly.

They soon arrived at the ancestral hall. The blessing ceremony had already begun and the open space in front of the hall was crowded with villagers.

The two gates were hung with red silk ribbons. Two wooden altars were placed in the open space in the middle. Several slaughtered white pigs were placed on the altars. Next to them was a simple wooden frame with a large bull's head hanging on it.

There are also masters playing trumpets and drums sitting on both sides.

Xie Liang squeezed into the crowd and looked inside the gate. He saw a witch in the inner hall wearing extremely strange clothes, jumping around with a pestle and a bell in each hand.

The air inside was filled with smoke from the burning incense and paper money.

The standing room inside the ancestral hall was packed with villagers who had come to pray. Each of them brought their own homemade offerings and placed them on the tables. After placing them, they took turns burning incense and kneeling before their ancestors' tablets. Afterward, they crowded into the hall to watch the witch perform a bizarre dance.

The prayers were already in full swing, with the witch dancing from the inner hall to the altar with a bull's head hanging in front of the door. Then, two villagers brought out a large drum and placed it in front of the two altars.

The witch jumped onto the drum, shaking her body constantly, shaking the bell in her hand, and chanting a ballad that Xie Liang couldn't understand. She shouted and sang, which was very weird.

Then, the witch took out an exquisite silver bowl from her side, placed it on the drum, and knelt down.

The villagers suddenly knelt down together, saying similar words at the same time.

"Please God, if it doesn't rain we will starve to death."

"Please have mercy on me, I am willing to sacrifice the rest of my life just to ask for the blessing of heaven."

"It hasn't rained for so long. Please, God, have mercy on us!"

"Yes, if it doesn't rain, we won't be able to grow crops and we'll all starve to death."

…

The villagers kneeling on the ground were praying for rain. Xie Liang looked at them and muttered to Xu He, "That evil monk is just making up stories. How could there really be a three-year drought?"

Xu He looked at the villagers praying for rain and replied calmly, "I don't know either."

The prayer was about to end, but there was no sign of the bell, and Dai Tian couldn't help but get anxious.

"What's going on? Why is there no bell?" He collapsed and pulled the collar of Xiao Ha's vest with both hands, asking angrily with red eyes.

"Let go! I told you to let go!" Seeing that he still didn't let go, Xiao Ha didn't give in to him and punched him with his powerful arm. Dai Tian was knocked to the ground and cried in despair.

"It's over, I can't go back, I'm going to die here!" Dai Tian broke down and burst into tears.

Li Dong, who was standing next to him, had grown a beard from his stubble, looking unkempt and slovenly. He sighed and said, "It seems that whether you die early or late, you will die anyway."

Xie Liang suddenly remembered what Xu He said, and took out the flute from his pocket to observe it.

He had never seen such a flute before. The flute body was as delicate and white as the finest mutton-fat jade. If you tapped it lightly with your hand, you could hear the crisp and ethereal sound it made.

"It is said that it can please the gods?" Xie Liang muttered to himself as he looked at the exquisite flute.

He squeezed into the crowd with his flute, jumped onto the altar, put his fingers on the flute holes, and looked up at the big bull head with red flowers in front of him to the clear light blue sky.

Then, Xie Liang placed the flute between his lips, took a deep breath and began to slowly deliver air, and the flute sounds rang out.

The sound produced by the flute is clear and ethereal. Although it sounds disorganized, it is still crisp and pleasant to the ears.

The sound of the flute was carried up to the sky by the breeze, and the sun in the sky was gradually covered by clouds.

The sound of the flute flowed around, and everyone who heard it felt warm and gentle as if they were bathed in a spring breeze. The villagers even forgot to drive Xie Liang off the altar.

As Xie Liang continued to play, strong winds began to blow around them. The originally clear light blue sky had darkened, and dark clouds gathered, as if a heavy rain was about to come.

Xie Liang's cheeks ached from the wind, and he was practically starving for air. As his last breath faded, bean-sized raindrops began to fall from the sky, and the villagers kneeling around the ancestral hall stood up with joy.

“It’s raining!!!”

“Ahhh, thank God!!!”

“It’s really raining!!! The crops in the fields are saved!!!”

Amid the cheers of the villagers, a long and deep bell sounded, and then a blue vortex appeared at the entrance of the ancestral hall, just like the blue vortex Xie Liang had seen before.

The villagers seemed to be blind to the sudden vision and continued to cheer and bathe in the heavy rain.

Dai Tian quickly got up from the ground after hearing the bell. After seeing the blue vortex in the rain, he rushed over in a hurry and accidentally bumped into the side of the altar. He became angry like crazy, pushed the altar with his backhand, and rushed into the vortex door in three or two steps.

Xie Liang lost his balance and fell to the ground after being pushed by him. Fortunately, Xu He who was standing beside him supported him and prevented him from falling so hard.

Looking at the joy of these people in front of him, Xie Liang couldn't tell whether the rain was caused by the sound of the flute or was just a coincidence.

Xu He squatted down and half-hugged Xie Liang to help him up, then squatted down again and lifted up his trouser legs to check the part where he hit the ground. After making sure there were no major scratches, he let his trouser legs down.

Xiao Ha and Li Dong walked towards them at this time and asked them if they wanted to exchange contact information.

Xu He shook his head to refuse.

After Xie Liang exchanged contact information with the two of them, the four of them stepped into the surging vortex door one after another.