Chapter 34
Before we even entered the village, we noticed something was amiss. Ma Ping finally parked the car at the village entrance. Seeing us coming, the villagers, led by the village chief, gathered around to greet us.
Ma Ping revealed his identity, and upon realizing he was from the Ma family, the other party became very welcoming. After the village chief arranged our accommodations, he briefly explained the events in his village. It wasn't a serious matter; no one had died. However, every evening, the villagers would feel like they were being watched, but when they opened the door and went outside, they wouldn't find anything. Anyone who felt like they were being watched would undoubtedly fall seriously ill within three days.
This had been happening for six months. I had consulted a fortune teller, but they only managed to treat the symptoms, and the condition would reappear within a few days. Finally, as a last resort, I contacted the Ma family. The Ma family is undoubtedly the most famous in the Northeast.
After hearing what the village chief said, the three of us were confused. Judging from the shape of the Black Mountain, it is not suitable for human habitation, but the village chief said that they have lived here for hundreds of years, and their ancestors came here to escape disaster. Although there have been some supernatural events in the past, they were all made up by the older generation to scare children. Anyway, the village chief has never encountered any supernatural events since he was a child, except for this time.
What he said was so vague that we couldn't figure out what the problem was.
I didn't feel any discomfort through my induction. Everything here is normal, but this is the most abnormal part, because in my cognition, this place must not be normal.
After dismissing the villagers, the three of us discussed a plan. Since we had nothing to do, we might as well look around. Perhaps there are places we haven't discovered yet. We set off immediately and looked around the village. This Heishankan is really not simple. If their ancestors accidentally stumbled upon this place while fleeing, they must have been unlucky.
Aside from the coffin-like mountain behind, there's no river around it. The entire village relies on well water, which is why all the trees are withered. The water shortage is truly severe. Coupled with the fact that every household lives in a "coffin," the village feels confined. Surprisingly, not only are people able to leave the village, but many children achieve considerable success.
Could it be that it means "getting promoted and getting rich"?
But the coffin didn't rise, so how could there be any talk of prosperity in government and business? No wind, no water, it's a dead end. All this is so strange.
After observing the village's perimeter, we returned to our lodgings. At night, especially after the villagers fell asleep, the village was remarkably quiet. I finally noticed something unusual: aside from the people, there seemed to be no living creatures in the village. In rural areas, even without pigs, there would be at least one or two chickens and dogs, but here, there seemed to be nothing. No wonder it was so quiet.
I told Sister Ma and Ma Ping about this discovery, and they were also very surprised. In rural Northeast China, almost every household raises some poultry and livestock. It is impossible for them to raise nothing at all.
We stayed up all night and didn't find anything unusual. Sister Ma was impatient and even suspected that they were lying because the feeling of being spied on as the village chief said didn't occur.
We found the village chief and asked him what was going on. He looked bewildered and couldn't explain it. He didn't seem to be faking it, so we asked him why there was no living creature in the village except people.
The village chief sighed and said, "Everything we raise in the village dies. We can't raise any."
The three of us were skeptical of the village chief's words and asked a few more questions. After sending him away, Sister Ma, unconvinced, secretly went out and bought a chicken. The chicken wilted upon entering the village, and before nightfall, it collapsed to the ground and died before our very eyes. It didn't even crow until its death, which was truly eerie. If an evil spirit truly existed, it wouldn't have escaped our three senses.
"How about we take a closer look in the village tonight?" I said.
"Well, it seems that this is the only way. I hope we can find out the problem as soon as possible." Sister Ma said.
At night, we checked the village under the cover of darkness, but found nothing wrong in the entire village.
"Quack." The crows at the entrance of the village screamed a few times.
"Hey, why can crows survive here?" said Sister Ma.
Crows are not the unlucky birds we usually think of. In our eyes, they are actually auspicious birds. We followed the crows' calls to the village entrance, and the scene before us gave me goosebumps.
Countless branches sprouted from the dry trees, and each dangling branch bore a fist-sized eye. As they saw us approach, they blinked, and with each blink, a caw emanated. The sound we had just heard was actually the blinking of eyes.
Countless eyes, like grapes, in bunches.
"What the hell are these?" Sister Ma stared at those eyes and said nervously.
"I don't know, I've never seen it," I said.
There was a strange laugh, and the eyes changed. Teeth grew on the upper and lower eyelids. Now, the eyes looked like a combination of mouth and eyes.
"Be careful!" As soon as I finished speaking, hundreds of eyes rushed towards the three of us like a swarm of locusts.
I immediately summoned the Fire Bell and increased the firepower to spray at them.
Sister Ma and Ma Ping started with the same gesture, each one performing a summoning gesture. My Fire Bell Technique burned them, causing them to croak, but it didn't cause any real damage. They all closed their eyes and continued to charge at the three of us.
Ma Ping was the first one to be entangled. He let out a loud roar, and those eyes were blown out one after another, splashing out a lot of evil energy.
Shamanism believes that all things have spirits. This Ma Ping looks a bit silly, but he turned out to be a Siberian tiger! This is much more powerful than Sister Ma's fox spirit. Fortunately, Sister Ma has the impermanence chain given by Master Qi, so she can deal with these eyes.
I saw that the fire bell was not effective, so the golden arrow flew up in my hand and I drew five thunder talismans at the same time.
The attack effects of the golden arrows and the five thunder talismans were surprisingly good. One golden-feathered flying arrow could pierce several eyes, and those five thunder talismans could also be destroyed together with the eyes.
We quickly eliminated hundreds of eyes, leaving only a few. However, we did not relax, because there were still countless eyes on those trees watching us.
After we destroyed all the eyes, the eyes on the trees all flew up, and the rustling sound was like the summer wind blowing through poplar leaves. But when I thought that these were not poplar leaves, but evil creatures with eyes and mouths fused together, I couldn't help but feel a chill in my heart.
Those eyes flew into the air, blocking the moon, and kept blinking above the village.
The three of us looked up, but didn't take any action, waiting for their next move.
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