The Black Robe Organization's preemptive strike completely caught us off guard.
The outsiders caused more than a dozen deaths in Ping'an Village, not only destroying their council chamber, but also likely taking away the records of the Miao Jiang Xian Palace.
For this village, whose very existence is to protect the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace, this is not merely removing their Achilles' heel, but rather, after removing their scales, sprinkling a bag of salt on them.
This place doesn't respect the law, and if we stay, the anger of Ping'an Village might turn on us.
I knew that Miao Xiaoxian wanted us to leave out of kindness, so I led the team out as quickly as possible.
Leaving the locust and willow grove, we once again entered the dense primeval forest.
Thanks to Miao Xiaoxian's method, we no longer had to wander around in circles in the woods. The skull grass she mentioned, scientifically known as snapdragon, gets its name from the fact that after the flowers wither, the seed pods left behind look like a string of skulls.
Our team, which originally consisted of thirteen people, has now been reduced to less than half. It took us a whole day to get back to the riverbank where we first met Miao Xiaoxian.
After setting up the temporary shelter, the monkeys went into the water to catch fish. Because of my leg injury, I stayed on the shore and lit a campfire while looking through the clan chief's diary that Miao Xiaoxian had given me.
This diary was written with a brush, and the handwriting is beautiful small regular script. Although it is in traditional characters, it is not difficult to recognize.
It feels more like a work record than a diary to me.
After searching for a while, I found that Ping'an Village was indeed as Miao Xiaoxian had said. In addition to the villagers hunting and farming, other villages would also provide them with necessities such as salt.
Turning to the last page, a passage caught my attention.
The gist of it was that our arrival made the clan chief and others feel extremely uneasy, so he arranged for someone to act as our guide, but in reality, it was to monitor our every move.
Another matter was that the clan chief discovered that Uncle Qi's youngest son had secretly returned to the village.
After discussion, the elders of Ping'an Village decided that they absolutely could not set this precedent, otherwise the villagers would fall apart.
Ultimately, after discussion, they decided to secretly execute Uncle Seven.
The recording ends here.
Judging from the timeline, Uncle Qi died the night before last, when we went to the willow grove.
Therefore, this record must have been written the day before yesterday afternoon.
Based on the information we have now, the cause of Uncle Seven's death is quite clear.
The village had already made the decision to eliminate him, and since Uncle Qi died from a Gu worm, it meant that the clan chief had given Uncle Qi a Gu worm after making this decision.
At the time, Uncle Qi was completely unaware that his family's secrets had been exposed, let alone the impending disaster. He was still dreaming of getting rich. That night, he rushed to the willow grove, intending to sell the information to Wei Shengnan and the others. However, the Gu worms took effect, causing him to die a violent death.
This explains why the clan chief didn't suspect anything when we carried Uncle Seven's body outside the town. Instead, to cover up the fact that they had eliminated Uncle Seven, they fabricated a suicide story for him.
As for why Uncle Qi's death was classified as a hanging, there are records in the documents.
When everyone was discussing Uncle Seven's matter at the meeting, someone said that he had betrayed Ping'an Village and was not worthy of being buried in the ancestral graves, and even demanded that his body be exposed for three days.
Judging from the final result, the patriarch clearly abandoned this plan and gave Uncle Seven a relatively "decent" way to die.
Whether he did this out of consideration for past relationships or out of fear that this incident would awaken the rebellious spirit of other villagers is a matter of opinion.
However, judging from this record, the Gu gu mentioned by Miao Xiaoxian were actually a source of pride for the people of Ping'an Village.
But that place has the Three Yin Town Hall and an underground Buddhist temple, so it doesn't seem like a place with good feng shui. Where does this glory come from?
Ignoring all that, I flipped through the notebook several times, but couldn't find anything, so I reluctantly tossed it aside.
Even Miao Xiaoxian didn't know anything about the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace. The only way she could take us to learn about that place was to find relevant information in the basement.
Unfortunately, the information has been completely looted by the Black Robe Organization, and with no trace left, we can only wait for news from Miao Xiaoxian.
Although I've always known that Duan Jinyan is a villain and that he has a bloody history, I thought that he only eliminated those who posed a threat to him.
But the people they killed in Ping'an Village today were just pitiful people oppressed by feudal rules.
This goes beyond being ruthless.
This is blatant disregard for human life!
Because I wasn't sure if Miao Xiaoxian would find any useful information, I was in a very low mood and didn't even eat dinner that night.
Although we have two teams stationed here at the same time, we don't live together. Instead, we tacitly keep a distance between each other.
I thought we would have to wait a long time, and might not even hear from Miao Xiaoxian, but I was startled by a dog barking as soon as it got dark.
Turning my head, I saw Miao Xiaoxian's big mastiff barking wildly at us. I noticed a letter hanging around its neck, so I went over and patted its head.
The dog was very intelligent; as soon as it saw me take the envelope off, it turned around and disappeared.
Qu Ruilin then walked over and looked at the letter in my hand: "Did that girl from the village send this?"
"Um."
Seeing that Miao Xiaoxian had only sent a dog to deliver the message and hadn't come herself, I had an uneasy feeling and quickly opened the letter.
Miao Xiaoxian's handwriting was very ugly. A few words filled an entire sheet of paper like a drawing, resembling modern oracle bone script. It required half-reading and half-guessing to barely understand.
It took me a long time to slowly read out the words: "The clan leader has gathered the strength of the entire village and is preparing to leave Ping'an Village for Qingyun Town."
Qu Ruilin glanced at the contents of the letter and asked me, "What kind of place is Qingyun Town?"
I thought for a moment: "I haven't heard of it, but Miao Xiaoxian said that the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace has several entrances, and the one guarded by Ping'an Village is one of them. Now that everyone in Ping'an Village is leaving, it's very likely because the previous bandits really did get information about the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace, and the clan leader wants to stop them from exploring further!"
"In that case, we really need to get to this town as soon as possible!"
Qu Ruilin said with a solemn expression, "Time is of the essence. We must set off tonight. I suggest we leave now and try to leave this jungle before dawn!"
I tore the letter into pieces and threw it into the river, then shook my head at Qu Ruilin: "You're right, time is indeed tight, but the ones who will be going together are not us."
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