Chapter 35
What is more eye-catching than the village in front of us is the mountain behind the village.
The mountain stood tall, abruptly appearing there, shrouded in dense, towering trees. Even at noon, with the sun directly overhead, the mist still hung thickly over the mountain, obscuring its features.
The village in front of me is full of thatched houses, and there are only dozens of households in the whole village. It is hard to imagine that such houses still exist today.
I followed Master Zhang into the village entrance, and a strange aura spread throughout my body.
Master Zhang's brow furrowed, his eyes filled with deep worry. Danxi, Danchen, and Qingyun, however, couldn't sense this presence. They stared at the village in surprise, still happy to have finally arrived.
It seems that this Broken Soul Village is indeed not simple. I am worried. I hope Senior Brother Danyang is okay.
We walked into the village. When the children in the village saw us strangers coming in, they who were originally gathered there playing ran away in a hurry.
The wind blew through the streets, raising dust.
We walked all over the village, and strangely, we didn't see anyone except the few children we saw just now, and we didn't know where those children had gone.
At this time, the two brothers also noticed something was wrong and murmured, "Strange."
Although I didn't see anyone else, I had figured out the entire layout of the village. The streets of Broken Soul Village were shaped like the Chinese character "δΈ°". In the center of the village stood a large stone mill used for grinding grain. At the end of the village stood a well with traces of water at the mouth, suggesting it was frequently used. But why was there no one in sight?
We couldn't just stand there like that, so Brother Danxi walked to a door, knocked on it, and asked, "Is anyone there?"
He knocked for a long time but heard no answer, so he knocked again and again, but still no one responded. He knocked on several doors but no one opened the door.
"Master?" Senior Brother Danxi looked at Master Zhang.
Master Zhang signaled him not to continue.
A sense of foreboding suddenly arose in my heart. Could everyone in this village be dead? But those children were clearly alive, and the water marks by the well also proved that this village was definitely inhabited.
Just as I was thinking about this, a noise came from the entrance of the village.
We looked over there and saw a group of people walking towards the village.
I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw a living person.
When those people saw us, they were also surprised and surrounded us.
The leader was an old man with gray hair, a wrinkled face, and was leaning on a cane.
Seeing that Master Zhang and the others were all dressed as Taoist priests, he asked, "I wonder if you are masters of Baiyun Temple?"
After hearing what he said, I suddenly had a bad feeling. Since they knew about Baiyun Temple, it must have been Senior Brother Danyang who told them. Then why was Senior Brother Danyang not there?
Master Zhang bowed and said, "Father, I am Zhang Yangping from Baiyun Monastery."
In fact, Master Zhang knew that they must know Li Danyang, but he still introduced himself first.
When the villagers heard Master Zhang's introduction, they were all surprised.
The old man said, "Did Master Zhang Tianshi come here in person after hearing the news about my grandson?"
Master Zhang and the others were very confused and said, "We came here to look for Danyang because he hasn't returned to Baiyun Temple. We haven't seen your grandson yet."
The village chief also looked puzzled and said, "But my grandson went to Baiyun Temple the day after Taoist Li's accident."
When we heard that something had happened to Senior Brother Danyang, we were all very upset. Senior Brother Danxi grabbed the old man's arm and asked, "What happened to my Senior Brother Danyang?"
Master Zhang, upon seeing this, stopped Zhao Danxi and scolded him, "Don't be rude."
Now both of us are extremely anxious.
Master Zhang said, "Old man, how about we find a place to stay and talk about it in detail?"
Surrounded by villagers, the old man took us to the stone mill in the center of the village. He asked someone to find a stool, and we started talking there.
It took me a long time to figure things out. The whole thing is this:
Just six months ago, a villager named Luo Hao from Broken Soul Village went hunting in the mountains as usual. Although Broken Soul Mountain sounds scary, it's actually not dangerous. Game abounds in the mountains, and villagers often go there to hunt for game and trade it in town for daily necessities. Luo Hao went into the mountains and didn't return for a single day. Because he was an only child and his parents had long since passed away, no one noticed. It wasn't until the next day that a villager entered the mountains and found Luo Hao, pale and motionless, leaning against a tree.
The villager who found him was named Luo Da. When he went forward to take a look, he found that Luo Hao had already died. He was so scared that he ran back to the village in a panic. After hearing about this, the villagers went into the mountains together. When they got there, they found Luo Hao's body. So they carried Luo Hao's body back, but Luo Hao had no wounds on his body. He was smiling when he died, so he should not have been killed by a wild animal. The villagers thought he died of poisoning. According to the customs of the village, people who died suddenly like this need to be buried as soon as possible. So the old man just now, who was actually the village chief, buried Luo Hao under his supervision.
What's scary is that that night, someone saw Luo Hao wandering on the street. This matter spread like wildfire, and rumors of ghosts spread.
But the truth is even more horrifying. Not long after Luo Hao's death, Luo Da died under the same tree with the same smile on his face.
The villagers realized this was unusual and went to the town to seek out a hermit. After examining the area, the hermit explained that the villagers' frequent slaughter of animals in the mountains had angered the mountain spirit, and that a sacrifice was needed to appease it. He instructed the villagers to choose their offerings, and he presided over the ceremony. However, the day before the ceremony, the hermit died.
The situation grew increasingly bizarre, and somehow word of it spread. Eventually, someone heard that someone at Wulong Mountain's Baiyun Temple could handle the situation, so they sent the village chief's grandson to Baiyun Temple to look for someone. This was the first Master Zhang had heard of the incident, and he sent Li Danyang to Broken Soul Village with the person. Upon arriving at Broken Soul Village, Li Danyang discovered something far more complex. The deaths of the previous victims weren't caused by the anger of the mountain spirit, but rather by the work of an evil spirit.
He knew that the villagers could not help, so he went into the mountains alone to deal with the matter, but he never came back.
When the village chief saw that Li Danyang had been in the mountains for a day and still hadn't come out, he knew something was wrong and quickly sent his grandson to Baiyun Temple to deliver the message. For some unknown reason, not only did his grandson fail to deliver the message, he also disappeared.
Master Zhang was worried when he saw that Li Danyang had not returned for a long time, so he brought a few disciples to see what had happened. That's how I met Master Zhang at Huiyang Inn and followed them to Duanhun Village.
After the two sides communicated, the matter was sorted out, but I had some ideas about why the village chief's grandson didn't pass the news to Baiyun Temple. But it was just my guess, and I didn't dare say it to his face.
The current situation is that Senior Brother Danyang disappeared in Broken Soul Mountain and no body was found. There is still a glimmer of hope for his survival, but the village chief's grandson is most likely dead.
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