When they took about five steps, the scenery in front of them suddenly changed. A dry and hot breath blew in their faces, and the dazzling sunlight made Leng Qingning's skin feel hot.
Leng Qingning's eyes were stimulated to the point of tears flowing out. She slowly and tentatively opened her eyes. They were all shocked by the scene before them.
The valley before them was no longer the lush and leafy one they had been in before. Everything here was completely different. The soil on the ground was dry and cracked, and dust flew up when they walked. There were mounds of earth all around, and dead tree trunks were crumbling and hanging on the side of the road.
The dry and hot air made everyone's mouth dry. Leng Qingning felt inexplicably uncomfortable the first moment she stepped into here.
Not far ahead were rows of crooked and dilapidated wooden houses. The dirty villagers on the road stared at them with their dark eyes, which was truly horrifying.
Only then did they realize that the stone statue of the old man who brought them in had disappeared.
"My dear friends, I can only take you so far. The rest is up to you. Don't forget what you promised me. You must save Li Yatou..." As the old man sighed, he disappeared completely.
"Should we go over?" Yang Fan looked at the villagers in front of him who were staring at them with some confusion. Although it was obviously a very dry and droughty day, his eyelids kept twitching the moment he came in, and he inexplicably felt a chill on his body.
There's something strange about this place. We need to warn others to be careful.
The curious villagers finally came forward and asked tentatively.
The villager who spoke seemed to be the leader of the group. He forced a kind smile and glanced at the woman carried by Bai Xichen. A dark glint flashed in his eyes as he said, "I'm sure you guests have come from far away. To be honest, the weather here is harsh. Even though the sun is shining brightly now, it will be dark in an hour. There are no villages ahead. Why don't you stay with us for one night?"
Bai Xichen pursed his lips and glanced at Leng Qingning and Yan Ci. Seeing them nod, he bowed and said, "Then I'll trouble you, old man. We are sorry to bother you here."
"You're welcome, everyone. I'm the village chief. Our house is the largest in the village. If you don't mind, why don't you come over to my place?"
Ji Lize pretended to be happy and said, "That's great. Thank you, Uncle Village Chief. We were just worried about having no place to stay tonight. In that case, let's go!"
Zhou Xuan and the others from the Elite Team saw the look he gave them and echoed, "Thank you, old man. We'll excuse ourselves from the interruption then!"
When the villagers saw them following the village chief, they all showed fear, took a few steps back, quickly ran into their houses and closed the door.
Leng Qingning and Bai Xichen looked at each other, frowned at the same time, and looked deep in thought. Something was wrong here. Are these villagers afraid of them or the village chief?
Yan Ci, on the other hand, still had a nonchalant look on his face, looking like a dandy young man from a wealthy family.
The village chief's eyes swept over Leng Qingning and Yan Ci from time to time. She inexplicably felt sticky and cold, and goose bumps appeared on her back.
The village chief said, "You are welcome, please follow us. The village is suffering from drought, so it looks a bit shabby. I hope you don't mind."
The fair-skinned, feminine-looking boy next to Zhou Xuan, named Duan Tinglang, asked in confusion, "Old man, the drought in this village is so severe, there's not even a river. It must be very difficult to survive here. Why don't you move out and live somewhere else?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the village chief, who was kind and amiable a second ago, suddenly had a distorted expression and a ferocious face, which scared Duan Tinglang so much that he took a step back.
The village chief suddenly narrowed his gaze and said with worry, "I'm not afraid of you all laughing at me. For as long as I can remember, we have lived in this village for generations, blessed by the goddess. This is our root, and we have long developed a deep affection for it. How could we possibly leave?"
"What do you mean by goddess's blessing? Are there fairies here?" Leng Qingning asked curiously, with a bright look in her eyes, like an innocent girl who is ignorant of the world.
The village chief glanced at her meaningfully, his expression was very subtle...
Leng Qingning couldn't describe what she felt, it was as if she was evaluating an object.
"To be honest, our village is called the Goddess Village because our ancestors once suffered a severe drought, which led to the people's miserable lives and the death of many people. It has been a long time since the gods appeared on the continent. Just when we thought we were abandoned by the gods, one day, the goddess came down and took charge, sending down a sweet rain for us, helping us to overcome the drought and blessing us with good weather and good harvests."
"Unfortunately... the good times didn't last. The goddess's power was limited. She overdrew her divine power to cast the rain, causing her body to become increasingly weak. She became less and less able to cast the rain. Only then did we realize that she didn't have much time left."
After the village chief finished speaking, a look of sadness appeared on his face.
"Can gods die too? Are there really gods on the continent?" Ji Lize couldn't help but ask curiously. After all, gods only exist in legends, so those of them, the demon clan or the immortal cultivators, cannot be called gods at all.
When the gods are angry, mountains and rivers will collapse and the sky will break apart in the blink of an eye. This is absolutely nothing that cultivators can compare to.
"Hey... who knows? This is passed down from our ancestors, and we, the younger generation, don't know either."
While they were talking, they had followed the village chief to their home. Just as he said, their house was the largest brick house in the entire village, and it was completely out of place compared to those dilapidated wooden houses.
Not far in front of the village chief's house, there stands an old, dilapidated white temple, covered with cobwebs and dust, and no one has cleaned it for a long time.
Most of the plaques on the temple have been destroyed, and the words on them can no longer be seen. The statues inside have been damaged beyond recognition, not to mention how can there be incense and offerings?
"Qingning, why are you crying suddenly?" Bai Xichen handed her a handkerchief worriedly.
"It's okay, I don't know what happened, I suddenly felt uncomfortable." She was about to take the handkerchief, but Yan Ci suddenly pushed Bai Xichen away, took out his handkerchief rudely, and rubbed it hard on her face.
A burning pain spread across her delicate skin, and Leng Qingning grabbed his wrist with resentment.
"I'm fine, please stop it now! If you keep rubbing like this, my beautiful face, as pure as a lotus in clear water, will be ruined by you!"
Yan Ci looked her up and down with amusement and said, "You? A beauty like no other? You're not even as pretty as me~"
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