Su Deng walked to the wall. There was no door or switch on the wall, but she could hear laughter coming from behind it.

After a moment's thought, she walked into the passageway next to her.

"Hey!" Qin Xian hurriedly gripped his bow and chased after him. "Don't leave me behind!"

Inside was an even larger cave.

Inside the cave, braziers and torches were lit, and there were many wooden plaques with various strange symbols drawn on them. These plaques were strung together with red threads and hung in the air like wind chimes.

Beneath these talismans stood a colossal stone statue, its long hair flowing down its back, its head bowed as if looking down upon all living beings, radiating peace and compassion. Thorns rose from its feet, entwining its lower body, and the various talismans were stained with a foul, dark red.

The red threads with wooden signs hanging on them clung to her body in a messy manner, like blood vessels, while four chains passed through her body and locked her in the four corners of the room.

Shocking and terrifying, it exudes an indescribable eeriness.

"This is..." Qin Xian's eyes widened, "...a mountain god?"

This stone statue does indeed resemble a mountain god, the only difference being that this statue has long hair and is carved in greater detail, confirming that it is a female statue, unlike the one in the Yaocun Mountain God Temple.

What's even more chilling is that kneeling in front of it are not only the little ghost girl who just passed through the wall, but also other people.

More accurately, they are ghosts.

There are at least hundreds, all ethereal and transparent.

"My God!" Qin Xian jumped behind Su Deng again, swallowing hard. "These can't all be ghosts, can they?!"

Su Deng glanced at him. "Why are you still afraid of ghosts? Or NPC ghosts?"

Qin Xian's ears burned, and he retorted, "So what if I'm afraid of ghosts? I'm afraid of ghosts! Aren't NPCs ghosts too? Even if I stay in the Spirit Realm for another hundred years, I'll still be afraid of ghosts. Is being afraid of ghosts a crime?"

"It's nothing, it's just that I don't have a son as old as you," Su Deng turned off her flashlight, took the dagger and walked inside, her light tone carrying a hint of evil, "Next time you're scared, hide behind me, don't call me Mom, call me Su Deng Ancestor."

"..." Qin Xian gritted his teeth and cursed inwardly, hiding to the side and refusing to go over, "Don't drag me into your own ghostly escapades!"

These ghosts were dressed simply, some even with patches on their clothes. Unsurprisingly, they were all villagers from Yao Village. They knelt before the statue of the god, ethereal, peaceful, and devout.

The hundreds of memorial tablets in the ancestral hall, the hundreds of coffins just now, and so many ghosts... Could they all be from the same group of people?

Su Deng asked directly, "Is there anyone among you who can understand human speech?"

The kneeling ghosts remained motionless, but an ethereal voice echoed in the void, "They are all souls that have lost their consciousness and cannot communicate."

Qin Xian felt a chill run down his spine. He appeared behind Su Deng in a flash, gripping the arrow tightly and looking around warily. "Who! Is it a person or a ghost!"

Su Deng didn't react as strongly as him. After a slight pause, her gaze fell on the mountain god statue, and she tentatively asked, "Are you the mountain god?"

"Yes." This time, the voice came clearly from the statue.

"Holy crap!" Qin Xian exclaimed in surprise, "There really is a mountain god?"

"To be more precise, I am a product of faith born from the wishes of these villagers."

The mountain god's voice was gentle and compassionate, his tone slow and gentle. "In the past, Yao Village suffered from disasters, people couldn't get enough to eat, and some even died in the famine. The villagers were in unbearable pain, kneeling on the ground every day, praying for the gods to open their eyes. I was born from their helpless and sorrowful prayers of despair. Later, they created a body for me and worshipped me as the mountain god."

Su Deng frowned, "That mountain spirit..."

After a moment of silence, the statue spoke again, its voice weak, "It is not me, it is the resentment and desires of the villagers."

Qin Xian was filled with doubt and suspicion. "Then why do we know that the mountain spirit is your resentment towards the villagers?"

Su Deng frowned. "You're the one who had that child lead us here, aren't you?"

The mountain god statue has been silent for a long time.

Su Deng hesitated before asking, "Are you still there?"

“I survived by relying on the faith of the villagers. After they stopped worshipping me, they lost their faith, and then I was imprisoned here. My consciousness began to dissipate. The only reason I can still retain a trace of my will to communicate with you is because of the remaining spiritual power of these souls…”

After a long while, the mountain god spoke, his voice even weaker, "But I can't keep talking forever. I probably can't tell you everything you want to know in one go. Please forgive me."

Before Su Deng could speak, Qin Xian interrupted her, saying irritably, "Then hurry up and say the important thing!"

Another moment passed.

"That Taoist priest... he's a fake. He deceived the villagers, imprisoned me, and is trying to perform a ritual... for eternal life... Please... save the villagers..."

She seemed to have used up all her strength to say this, and it was broken and intermittent. After the last sound faded, there was no sound for a long time.

It was as if she had never existed.

Qin Xian was somewhat speechless. "Asking her to say what's important isn't just asking her to say important keywords."

Su Deng looked at the villagers and their wandering souls kneeling before the statue of the god, and after a long time, said, "I understand."

Qin Xian asked her, "What do you understand?"

Su Deng murmured, "Liu Sangua is wrong."

"What are you talking about?" Qin Xian asked, confused and somewhat anxious. "How did this get involved with Liu Sangua?"

“Liu Sangua said that the mountain spirit is the resentment of the mountain god, but the mountain spirit and the mountain god are not the same thing at all.” Su Deng’s voice was cold and his eyes were clear. “The so-called mountain spirit, the ancient evil spirit suppressed in the underground of Yao Village, including the curse, are all that Taoist priest.

Qin Xian's eyes widened. "You mean all these villagers were killed by that Taoist priest?"

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