Upon hearing Xiao Cheng's question, the female ghost's expression froze for a moment.
"What are you talking about, silly girl? God, haven't you always been here?" She drifted away a little, swaying slightly. "Let's change the subject. I believe you have other, more intriguing things."
"Alright then." Xiao Cheng pointed to the well and the golden basin. "What are those black crystals? What does the so-called initial purification have to do with them?"
"You really are a silly girl, asking such silly questions." The female ghost sighed, seemingly helpless. "But even so, I will still keep my promise and answer you. It's filth, filth rejected by the true god, and here, it will be burned away by karmic fire in an instant."
She suddenly spread her five fingers upwards in an explosion gesture, then giggled, "I've finished answering the questions, now go back. I hope we can meet again at dawn!"
As Xiao Cheng left the ancestral hall, she saw Xu Chu and Number 4 walking towards her.
Player #7 looked sleepy, as if he had just been dragged out of bed, rubbing his eyes and following behind them with a bewildered expression.
"What's wrong?" he muttered. "Why are you all out so late at night? Wait, why did you wake me up? You all look like you think I'm dead."
Xiao Cheng looked at Xu Chu with a puzzled expression: "What's wrong with him?"
Xu Chu remained silent for a while before finally managing to squeeze out, "I was lucky; I won without lifting a finger."
“That monster’s strength should be related to our own strength. He…” Number 4’s expression was somewhat complicated. “He rolled over and crushed the monster to death.”
Xiao Cheng: "..." The difference between people is even greater than the difference between people and NPCs.
"Nothing unusual happened in the village. The monsters and their corpses have all disappeared, and we didn't see any true god." Xu Chu steered the conversation back on track. "What about the ancestral hall? Any clues?"
Just as Xiao Cheng was about to speak about the female ghost, she heard a faint voice in her ear: "No, silly girl. You won't expose me, right?"
The words that were about to come out of his mouth paused slightly. Without making a sound, Xiao Cheng glanced to the side out of the corner of his eye and saw the female ghost floating in the shadow cast by the mountain, swaying and smiling at him.
"No, I didn't find anything," she said calmly, then kicked the broken statue on the ground. "But this thing is definitely not a real god."
"We haven't found any clues. It seems we can only wait until dawn." Xu Chu sighed softly. "What's next?"
"Next," Xiao Cheng glanced at Player 7, who was completely oblivious to the situation, "Nothing's wrong, go back to sleep."
Number 7 looked completely bewildered: "So why did you insist on waking me up?"
Xiao Cheng pondered for a moment, then patted his shoulder earnestly: "I'm telling you to get some sleep."
Xiao Cheng returned to the witch's house alone and saw from afar that the door he had kicked down had been completely restored.
The wooden sign hanging under the lantern hadn't been changed back; it swayed gently in the night breeze, barely noticeable.
The door wasn't locked; it opened with a push.
The monster's corpse in the courtyard had indeed disappeared, and nothing seemed amiss. The witch hadn't shown herself either, and the house was completely silent.
Lying back on her newly refurbished bed, Xiao Cheng felt a void in her heart. She tossed and turned for a long time before finally drifting off to sleep just before dawn.
However, he was soon awakened by the witch, who stood at the head of the bed, holding a rooster with its neck broken.
Chicken blood dripped onto the pillow, and the shaman wore her usual gentle smile: "Dear traveler, it's time to get up."
There wasn't much preparation for today's ceremony. By the time Xiao Cheng arrived at the shrine with the witch, the ritual was about to begin.
Xiao Cheng searched around, but Xu Chu and the other two were nowhere to be found. She wondered if they had gone somewhere else.
"You're late," the village chief said sternly to the shaman, his sharp gaze piercing through the Nuo mask and landing on the rooster in her hand. He then nodded slightly. "The offering is good. Put it up."
Xiao Cheng mingled in the outer circle of the crowd, subtly glancing towards the offering table.
The statue was returned to the shrine, but the small broken section was not repaired. A small piece of finger bone protruded from it, a white, sharp spot covered with dried blood and dirt.
However, apart from Xiao Cheng himself, it seemed that no one else noticed any of this. The villagers knelt and prayed before the statue in twos and threes, their faces filled with almost fanatical piety.
"Uncle, the statue seems a little different today." Xiao Cheng randomly selected a lucky villager and, after the villager finished praying, approached him and said.
The villagers had always treated them, these outsiders, with a lukewarm attitude. The uncle glanced at her with some curiosity: "The True God VI is attached to it, so of course it's different."
"Perhaps the statue needs to be repaired to be more luxurious," Xiao Cheng said tactfully.
Unexpectedly, the villagers suddenly pointed at her angrily and shouted, "What nonsense are you spouting! The idol was created according to the oracle of the true God! No one has the right to change it!"
Then he glared at her fiercely, knelt heavily on the ground with a thud, and began to kowtow forcefully to the statue.
Xiao Cheng: "..." Has she been brainwashed by a cult?
Just as she was about to leave, her hand was suddenly grabbed.
Turning her head, she saw the boy with the knife on his head peeking out and smiling at her: "Big sister, hello there, we meet again."
No one but Xiao Cheng could see the boy.
She pretended to admire the scenery and pulled the boy away from the crowd; fortunately, no one else noticed them.
"Why did you come here?" Xiao Cheng asked.
“It’s not just me, a lot of people have come.” The boy stretched out his index finger and spun it around. “There are really a lot of people, but they don’t want to show themselves, so you can’t see them.”
"Is today's ritual related to you?"
“Of course, the worship of the true god is related to everyone.” The boy looked at the statue on the altar with bright eyes. “After today, many, many people will come to accompany me, and I am very happy.”
Hearing his words, Xiao Cheng's heart sank: "A lot of people?"
“Yes, big sister, you will see it.” The boy’s figure suddenly became illusory and then gradually disappeared from Xiao Cheng’s sight. “If the true god appears… you will see more.”
As the ceremony was about to begin, the village chief and the witch each held a bowl of blood and poured it onto the statue.
The blood did not drip, but slowly seeped in. The statue emitted an increasingly dazzling halo, and the gap was slowly filled, restoring it to its original state.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
