Chapter 82 Ghost Cry Village: The Temple Guardian
When the nest is overturned, how can the eggs remain intact?
Ghost Cry Village was not far away, and that very night, the group arrived at the village entrance.
The village was eerily quiet. Only a few scattered lights shone among the weeds, as if deliberately avoiding visitors.
In the darkness of night, the lone locust tree stump stood out, its broken ends clean and its growth rings clearly visible.
No one could tell how many secrets of Nan Yue were hidden in this seemingly ordinary locust tree.
The trees are innocent; the fault lies with people.
Unfortunately, this thousand-year-old locust tree is now reduced to just this stump.
After listening to his subordinate's report, Xie Xingzheng explained, "Although the government issued the order to cut down the tree, the villagers did it themselves. After the tree felled, the trunk was not taken away, but placed in the village ancestral hall. In a way, it fulfilled the villagers' faith in this old locust tree."
After saying this, he instructed his subordinates to take a few people to the ancestral hall.
Perhaps because few outsiders visit the village and there are no valuables, the ancestral hall's main gate was only slightly ajar.
Through the slightly ajar door, the orange candlelight inside flickered gently, the dim light making the empty ancestral hall appear even more eerie.
A night breeze swept past the door, stirring the wind chimes hanging beside it. The chimes rang crisply, yet sounded particularly abrupt in the still night.
It was as if... they had been waiting to welcome them.
Upon entering, one's eyes are greeted by a simple Buddhist shrine enshrined in the hall.
The Buddha statue is clearly very old, with its face slightly blurred, but the body and the area in front of the niche are extremely clean, free of dust and grime, indicating that it has been carefully maintained over time. Most of the gold paint has peeled off, with only a few remnants remaining on the forehead and face, which faintly gleam in the candlelight, revealing the last vestiges of its majestic solemnity.
The entire ancestral hall was faintly filled with the unique fragrance of locust wood.
Upon closer inspection, there were quite a few thick tree trunks piled up under the offering table and behind the Buddha niche, which must have been deliberately placed there.
It's unclear whether this is to protect the Buddha or to use the Buddha to suppress the locust tree.
Tang Yu and the others stopped and stood there gazing at each other for a long time.
At first glance, the locust wood is hollow, and it seems that there is nothing hidden inside.
Instead of checking the wood, she squinted and slowly walked towards the shrine, her gaze falling on the Guanyin statue.
The hem of Guanyin's robe faintly revealed a dark red hue, which looked extremely unnatural in the dim candlelight.
It doesn't resemble paint stains, but rather the color of blood that has been repeatedly wiped away but can never be completely washed away.
Just then, an old man's cough came from the side of the hall.
The air lingered slightly, causing the candlelight to flicker.
The expressions of the group changed simultaneously, and they all became wary.
Xie Xingzheng stepped forward, blocking the crowd, and placed his hand on the long sword at his waist.
As the footsteps drew closer, a fairly kind-looking face appeared in the dim candlelight.
The old man was advanced in years, with a slightly hunched back. His left cheek appeared to have been injured, the skin uneven and bumpy, making him look half human and half ghostly in the flickering firelight.
His gaze swept over the crowd, a faint smile playing on his lips, and he remarked, "What a wonderful evening. So many outsiders have come to this small village to offer their prayers."
"Is the old man responsible for guarding this ancestral hall?" Tang Yu asked.
"When you get old," the old man smiled, "this is all that's left of me."
As he spoke, he raised his hand and used his sleeve to brush away the thin layer of ash that the men had brought in from the edge of the offering table, his movements slow and careful.
Xie Xingzheng's gaze lingered on that hand for a moment, his eyes darkening slightly.
This man had thick calluses on his hands and knuckles, indicating he was a martial artist. However, he showed no sign of killing intent, making him somewhat enigmatic.
Tang Yu stepped forward, her tone calm and direct: "We've come to find what's hidden in the locust tree branch."
The old man paused for a moment.
But it was only for a moment.
He quickly resumed wiping the table, as if he hadn't heard anything, and said in a nonchalant tone, "Go back."
Tang Yu stared at him and asked, "Even if the owner of these things is dead, will you continue to guard them?"
The candlelight flickered gently at that moment.
The old man was also clearly taken aback, and slowly turned his head.
A hint of dull confusion surfaced in those cloudy eyes, as if they hadn't immediately grasped the meaning behind those words.
"...Dead?"
Tang Yu nodded, her tone remaining calm: "King Xia Nan's attempt to raise an army, colluding with the Southern Frontier, failed due to their combined inside and outside forces."
She glanced at Xie Xingzheng beside her, "He was killed by General Xie last night."
The old man stood there blankly for a long time without moving, but his eyes gradually welled up with tears.
His expression was extremely complex, it was hard to tell whether it was relief or grief, a mixture of sorrow and joy.
"It's good that he's dead..."
After a long silence, he finally uttered these words in a hoarse voice.
But then came another heavy sigh: "But I still can't let you take these things away."
This time, even Tang Yu was a little confused about this person.
"Why?" she frowned.
Based on her initial deduction, a person like King Xia Nan would rarely truly trust others. Therefore, those left behind to guard the secret manual were likely not loyal, but rather opportunistic individuals, or perhaps their weaknesses had been exploited.
Upon seeing the old man before her, she was almost certain that he was neither a loyal servant nor someone who sought personal gain.
Perhaps it's because of certain things or people that I'm stuck here.
Tang Yu softened her tone, "If you have any concerns, you might as well tell me and I'll hear them. Perhaps we can come up with a solution that satisfies both sides."
The old man's heart skipped a beat, but he still refused to speak.
He reached out and stroked the rough bark of the locust wood. Even though it hurt his palm, he seemed not to feel any pain and murmured as he shook his head.
Even if King Xia Nan dies, the flames of war... will still ignite.
His voice was extremely hoarse. "I have to leave these life-saving charms for my poor granddaughter."
"When the nest is overturned, no egg remains intact."
Tang Yu's gaze swept over his slightly wavering face, and she disagreed, "Even if you guard these things for the people of Southern Xinjiang, if the country falls, can you and your granddaughter really survive in their hands?"
The sadness in the old man's eyes was almost overflowing.
He remained silent for a long time before whispering, "But that child... I've already ruined him, he has no way out, he can't come back."
Tang Yu's brow furrowed, and a bold guess suddenly surfaced in her mind.
"Could it be," she lowered her voice, "that little girl in Nan Yue's possession who can control Gu... is your granddaughter?"
The old man's expression changed drastically.
He opened his mouth, as if to deny it, but he couldn't muster the breath. Finally, he slowly nodded.
"...Not just her."
After a long while, the old man continued in a hoarse voice: "This whole village is in its current state because of me."
Everyone tacitly refrained from interrupting and listened quietly.
This old man will gradually reveal the truth about "Ghost Cry Village".
Back when Xia Nan was still known as Nanzhao, this small village was situated precisely between the Great Xia and the Southern Frontier.
Therefore, even though Nanzhao surrendered first after the war broke out, the turmoil still spread to this area.
With grain prices soaring, refugees fled north. Amidst the atmosphere of unease and fear, acts of arson, murder, and looting became commonplace.
Even though the Great Xia army was brave and fearless, the war ended quickly. But the scarcity of supplies remained.
Merchants took advantage of the chaos to raise prices, causing many villagers to go hungry.
The old man guarding the shrine was born in the Great Xia Dynasty and was half from the southern border region. In his youth, he followed a master and traveled all over the country, learning martial arts.
Because of his fluency in the southern Xinjiang language, he frequently traveled between Nanzhao and Modu to make a living. After getting married, he lived in this small village for two years and gradually became a person who could make decisions.
Unfortunately, after the war, his daughter became pregnant, and his wife fell seriously ill and was bedridden.
For the sake of his wife and daughters, and for the sake of the villagers, he had no choice but to go to Modu, hoping to obtain some cheap government relief grain.
But why would those officials care about such a small village?
Not only did they ignore him, they even beat him up because of his appearance in southern Xinjiang.
With nowhere else to turn, he went to the newly established Xia Nan Prefecture. But the prefect was only interested in his own profit and enjoyment, and ignored him as well.
I don't know if it's lucky or unlucky.
When he was desperate, he met King Xia Nan.
"He said he could help me," the old man said with a wry smile.
"So I took rice and grain back to the village. But my wife couldn't wait any longer and fell ill and passed away."
His fingertips trembled slightly, as if he were recalling those sorrowful days.
“At first, King Xia Nan did not tell me what he wanted. He only said that when the time was right, I would naturally know.”
The so-called "timing" was the rainy night when the ghost's cries appeared.
"Back then... it was you guys who broke the rumor of ghostly wails in our village, wasn't it?"
He smiled bitterly and said, "That girl named He Hong, who died in front of the old locust tree on a stormy night, is my daughter."
The air in the hall suddenly turned cold. Even Tang Yu hadn't expected this layer of cause and effect.
The old man closed his eyes, seemingly unwilling to recall, "King Xia Nan killed her to cut open her abdomen and take out the premature child..."
With her eyelashes slightly lowered, Tang Yu finally understood.
Why would a young woman go out alone on that stormy night and then mysteriously die in front of a locust tree?
It turns out that she never went out on her own.
He was simply killed and his body was carelessly dumped in front of that old locust tree.
"Later, the annual sacrifices were also arranged by King Xia Nan?" Tang Yu asked softly.
The old man nodded.
"How could one rainy night be enough for him to unknowingly hide all those 'treasures' inside this locust tree?"
His voice was filled with hatred. "He was afraid of being exposed, so he didn't want to act too frequently, and he didn't want to involve too many outsiders. So he found a so-called expert and fabricated the story that the Locust God was angry."
"So, on nights when ghosts wailed and rain fell, no one in the village dared to go out. Nor did anyone dare to approach or desecrate the old locust tree that was regarded as a god."
Under the cover of darkness and fear, King Xia Nan repeatedly sent the secret books obtained by Nan Yue deep into the locust tree amidst thunder and rain.
"If you hide your treasures well, it will only take a year or two."
Tears streamed down the old man's cheeks, his words filled with unspeakable sorrow, "But he didn't want peace in this village, and he wouldn't let me stop the villagers who had gone mad. The village has been like this ever since, constantly killing and sacrificing, until you arrived."
Inside the ancestral hall, the candlelight flickered silently, as if sighing for this long-standing sin.
"Can you imagine how I've spent these years?"
Tears streamed down the old man's face, and his shoulders trembled helplessly, but he was finally able to fully express the sorrow that had been buried in his heart for many years.
“Not a single night has I been able to sleep peacefully. When I close my eyes, I can almost see those villagers and their innocent families who have died…”
He choked up and couldn't say anything more.
Tang Yu felt no sorrow, only asked calmly, "So, are you going to continue making this mistake?"
“He not only killed your daughter, but also turned that child into a Gu. And all you can do is live in fear, praying that by protecting the things of the Southern Frontier, you can exchange them for your granddaughter’s life.”
She cruelly dissected, "But the truth is, if they were to invade the Great Xia and complete their plan to overthrow the country, your granddaughter would be squeezed dry of her last bit of value by these greedy people."
The old man's face gradually lost its color.
"King Xia Nan is dead, and the situation in the Southern Frontier is in chaos. If you truly wish to save your granddaughter and this village, you should hand over what King Xia Nan hid to me."
Tang Yu's eyes turned slightly cold as she said earnestly, "I will bring Xiao Qimeng back safely."
"She will no longer be anyone's tool. And Ghost Cry Village should no longer bear the weight of anyone's ambitions."
The old man shuddered violently.
His hunched figure seemed unable to support the spine bent by the weight of time.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com