And this is just the beginning!
The next moment, he pressed his broken index finger hard on his cane and began to draw blood runes!
My lips twitched. Just now, when he raised his index finger, I could see the bone protruding from it!
Imagine the pain of forcefully stabbing the cane to draw a talisman!
I can't imagine it.
I suddenly realized that the reason why my seventh uncle also bit off his finger without hesitation was because he was already determined to die.
When I recalled my previous suspicions about Uncle Qi, I felt a pang of guilt, as if a million ants were gnawing at my heart.
Once the blood talisman was drawn, a bright crimson flame suddenly ignited at the tip of the cane, making the cane resemble a torch!
My seventh uncle handed me his cane and said in a deep voice:
"Take this, and these villagers won't stop you. This is all I can do for you."
Seventh Uncle's face seemed to have turned pale, and his breathing became rapid:
"Hurry, this thing won't burn for long. You have to get to the locust tree before it goes out!"
I didn't dare delay, so I took the torch and rushed outside!
Sure enough, when the villagers saw us arrive, they all parted to the sides, making way for a narrow passage that could only accommodate one person at a time.
This time, I led the charge, with Lao Chen covering the rear, protecting Li Huai and Luo Tianhe in the middle.
The passage was so narrow it was suffocating; as I ran, I kept brushing against the villagers on either side.
The chilling aura emanating from them sent shivers down our spines, making our blood feel like it was about to freeze.
After running a long way, I couldn't help but look back. I saw that Uncle Qi was still standing in the same place, his figure looking particularly thin in the night!
Meanwhile, the villagers behind were starting to stir, and as the passage gradually closed, I could no longer see Uncle Qi's figure.
I turned around and ran as fast as I could.
The bright flame on the cane had dimmed considerably compared to before.
I prayed in my heart that the fire wouldn't go out, otherwise these villagers would tear us apart.
Fortunately, we broke through the villagers' encirclement, and there were no more villagers positioned behind us.
However, the road ahead was not easy to travel. The closer we got to the east end of the village, the colder it felt, as if we were slowly walking into an ice cellar.
Luckily, we found some clothes for Li Huai and Luo Tianhe at Old Chen's house. If they were still shirtless, they probably would have frozen to death here.
Not only did the temperature drop, but the ground beneath our feet became muddy and slippery. Every step felt like walking on rotting flesh, and we would sometimes sink into it.
"Holy crap, look at the moon!"
Li Huai, who was running in the middle, suddenly pointed to the sky in terror. We couldn't help but look up and saw that the full moon hanging in the sky was covered with an eerie blood-red glow!
The entire village was stained, as if it were soaked in a sea of blood.
Is this some kind of exaggerated claim?
As I sprinted away, I roared inwardly, "This is outrageous!"
I opened my third eye and looked up at the sky, and found that the moon was still a cold, silvery-white color, and nothing had actually changed.
This relieved me.
When we finally reached the edge of the open space, the sight before us made all four of us gasp in shock.
At this moment, the construction site around the locust tree was densely packed with villagers kneeling, kowtowing repeatedly until their foreheads bled, and some even had their skulls exposed!
But they seemed completely oblivious, continuing to kowtow devoutly and numbly.
The dull thumping sound was like the drumming of death.
And we finally met Chen Hua, who was standing in front of the locust tree.
But at this moment, Chen Hua was clearly no longer a human being!
His lower body had somehow grown together with the locust tree, as if he were a branch of the tree.
Countless tiny roots sprouted from his waist and abdomen, then burrowed back into the tree trunk.
This scene sent chills down our spines!
I had imagined countless scenarios of meeting Chen Hua, but none of them were as eerie and terrifying as this one.
Just then, as if sensing our arrival, he turned his face away.
Immediately, we couldn't help but take a few steps back, a feeling of utter absurdity welling up inside us.
Are we really not dreaming?
That face, which might have once been considered decent, is now covered with tangled locust tree roots, like a spider web covering most of it.
Some roots wriggled and crawled under his skin, as if they had replaced blood vessels and flowed slowly beneath his skin.
His left eye was completely occupied by a thick root!
The tip of the root slowly opened and closed in the eye socket, like a disgusting parasitic mouthpart.
His right eye, which at first glance appears normal, has completely lost the distinction between the pupil and the iris, resembling the rings of a tree.
When he turned to look at us, the hairs on his face twitched and made a sickening rustling sound!
His lips parted in a strange arc, and we could see that his lips and teeth were covered with green moss.
The scene before me reminded me of a taboo legend my grandfather once told me: the locust tree taking a wife!
Legend has it that several hundred years ago, a feng shui master, whether out of madness or for some other reason, drained his daughter's blood and buried her flesh and blood under a locust tree.
He was a living sacrifice to that century-old locust tree!
The locust tree, having drunk human blood and eaten human flesh, became a spirit, and a terrifying human face grew on its trunk.
Every full moon night, he would get married by dragging passing women into a tree hollow, and those women would never come out again after going in.
Centuries later, a highly skilled Taoist priest passed by and eradicated the locust tree demon.
After the villagers dug up the tree roots, they discovered that hundreds of women's skeletons were buried under the locust tree!
Chen Hua's current situation is somewhat similar to that legend.
Chen Hua's words interrupted my thoughts.
"You've finally arrived."
He stared intently at Chen Huai, his eyes filled with undisguised longing.
"Chen Hua, stop now,"
I raised the piercing nail, took a deep breath, and shouted.
The golden light stood out starkly against the blood-red moonlight.
"You've already avenged your wife and daughter, why drag so many innocent people into this?"
"innocent?"
Upon hearing my words, he reacted as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world, letting out an incredibly grating laugh, but that laugh was filled with resentment and madness.
"When they buried my daughter alive, did they ever consider that she was innocent too?"
"Those villagers, those so-called neighbors, they clearly knew what was happening, but they chose to remain silent!"
"Even if they didn't lay a hand on it, they were all accomplices. Every single person in this village deserves to die!"
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