The Yu brothers, Yong and Yuan, were Puppet Masters. Although Yu Yuan had died and the puppets they brought had been lost, Yu Yong alone was enough to kill all these villagers who existed in "human" form during the day.
To prevent him from killing out of vengeance, Ji Xingwang had assured him that he would not let the murderer of Yu Yuan go unpunished, and took him to Zhuo Wenbai’s home.
However, when they arrived...
"Have the two guests returned?"
In Qi Shui Village, Zhuo Wenbai stood outside his door, his expression unchanged as he looked at the approaching Li Ang and Guan Anyan. He smiled and said, "I saw the room empty this morning and thought you both had left earlier. I just made some porridge; would you like to join us?"
Li Ang paused for a moment, glancing at the room where Zhuo Wenbai’s wife was carrying out porridge. Both of them were still alive and appeared to have no memory of what had happened the night before.
Or perhaps, they’re pretending to have no memory...
Li Ang gave Zhuo Wenbai a deep look and asked calmly, "Actually, we left this morning to look for a friend who arrived at Qi Shui Village before us. His surname is Chu, he’s in his twenties, and he’s a scholar. Do you remember seeing anyone like that?"
Zhuo Wenbai frowned, trying to recall for a moment before shaking his head. "Sorry, I don’t recall. Qi Shui Village is a small place, and we usually notice if outsiders stay for a long time. Perhaps Mr. Chu has already left?"
"Has he left, or has he been secretly imprisoned by someone?" Yu Yong said grimly. "There aren’t many places in this village where someone could hide..."
Zhuo Wenbai sensed his hostility. His smile faded slightly as he frowned, "What do you mean by that, sir? The people of Qi Shui Village are honest and wouldn’t do such things."
"That may not be the case..."
Before Yu Yong could finish, the villagers carrying hoes on their way to the fields seemed to notice the commotion. They all turned their heads, staring expressionlessly at Li Ang’s group, their facial skin slowly tearing, forming one or two fissures.
"Sorry, he’s just anxious about finding someone and spoke rashly," Li Ang said, interrupting them. He then asked Zhuo Wenbai, "If our companion isn’t in Qi Shui Village but is wandering outside, where might he have gone?"
Zhuo Wenbai thought for a moment and said, "Qi Shui Hollow is surrounded by mountains on three sides. There are wolves and other wild animals in the woods, so it can be dangerous at night. If he’s not in Qi Shui Village... he might have gone to the Qi Shui Temple on the west side of the village? There are supplies and firewood there, a place where one can stay temporarily."
"Is that so? Thank you."
The surrounding villagers continued to stare. Seeing this, Li Ang immediately ended the conversation, turned, and left with the other three. Zhuo Wenbai, meanwhile, went back into his house, calmly ate breakfast with his wife, and casually discussed the Qi Shui Village festival for the next morning, as well as their plans to pick up their daughter from the ancestral hall later.
Once they had left the village and were away from those stiff-looking villagers, Yu Yong immediately lowered his voice. "Those villagers’ facial skin was tearing. Are they turning into evil ghosts even during the day?"
Li Ang nodded. "Luckily, we didn’t act against the villagers earlier; otherwise, it would have been difficult to leave."
Zhuo Wenbai’s family seems to be the only exception in the entire village. Could they be the center of this anomaly? Moreover, they seem able to come back from the dead... Ji Xingwang pondered silently, then turned to Guan Anyan. "An Yan, can you see anything?"
Guan Anyan, after thinking for a moment, said softly, "I really don’t see any traces of Brother Chu in the village. He probably never came here."
"Never came here? How is that possible?"
Yu Yong said, "Qi Shui Hollow is only so big. He’s been missing for a month and a half; could he have been staying in the mountains all this time? He didn’t have much food or water with him when he disappeared, did he?"
"Haoman is a Body Concealing Realm Cultivator. Although he can’t contend with all the evil ghosts in the village, creating a Water Condensation Talisman shouldn’t be a problem for him. It’s also possible he found a place to hide," Ji Xingwang said. "Let’s check that temple first; there might be some clues."
The four quickly found the Qi Shui Temple, located halfway up another hillside. The temple was small and exquisite, centrally featuring a Divine Statue of a young man with a sorrowful and compassionate expression, standing on a black fish. Below the statue, fruit offerings were arranged along with incense and candles for worship.
Despite the upcoming so-called celebration, the Qi Shui Temple was unguarded, and none of the fruit offerings showed any sign of being tampered with.
It’s strange, this Divine Statue... it feels strangely familiar... Yu Yong muttered to himself as he stood before it. He climbed the stone altar to inspect it closely, discovering that the statue was made of wood, painted on the surface, and not very ancient—at least not one hundred and eighty years old.
Li Ang casually asked, "Familiar in what way?"
"...The expression?" Yu Yong said uncertainly. "It’s like the Divine Statue of the Qihuai Lady I saw at the Qihuai Temple. It has the same sorrowful and compassionate look."
Ji Xingwang shook his head. "Aren’t most Divine Statues in temples ?"
"There’s a ledger here!" Guan Anyan called out from a corner. She had found a ledger recording the incense money given by pilgrims from other places. Up until the second year of Ningyi, the incense offerings were still plentiful, especially concentrated at the end of July.
"It’s the end of July now," Ji Xingwang said solemnly. "The period when pilgrims from other places are most frequent should be when Qi Shui Village holds its celebration and sells black fish. According to past records, the peak for pilgrims is July 30th, which should be the day of the celebration. The last recorded time pilgrims gave incense money was at 5 p.m. on the afternoon of July 29th, in the second year of Ningyi.
"If Qi Shui Village disappeared in the second year of Ningyi, then we are currently on the day before the village historically vanished. Moreover, and this is the most important point," he took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "5 p.m. on the afternoon of July 29th in the second year of Ningyi—that’s roughly the time in Qi Shui Village when we entered this anomaly. This means that when we entered the anomaly, there were still pilgrims here offering incense as usual. So, where are they? Why can’t we see them? Did they all leave Qi Shui Village at the exact moment we entered the anomaly? Or did they disappear silently? Or perhaps Qi Shui Village only binds the local villagers here?"
Too many questions remained unanswered. Li Ang thought for a moment and asked Ji Xingwang, "Cultivator Ji, before Chu Haoman disappeared, did he correspond with you about his recent research topics?"
"Yes." Ji Xingwang nodded. "Haoman’s research in the Golden Stone Study is extensive, but lately, he has been focusing on ancient legends of the Nine Nether." ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ novelꜰire.net
"The Nine Nether?" Li Ang raised an eyebrow in surprise. The term had multiple meanings: broadly, it referred to the deepest depths beneath the earth; narrowly, it signified a place purely of yin, devoid of yang. In some texts, it was also described as the Netherworld where ghosts go, or as the final destination of all rivers and seas on earth—by this definition, the Dark River beneath the Chang’an Ghost Market would also be part of the Nine Nether.
"Yes. He mentioned in a letter that he had made considerable progress, linking many historical events with legends of the Nine Nether. His investigations near Bingzhou were part of this research," Ji Xingwang continued. "However, he also said that his conclusions were still speculative and lacked evidence, needing more empirical proof, so he didn’t reveal any specifics to me."
Is that so... Li Ang stood at the entrance of the temple, squinting as he thought for a moment. Then, he suddenly said, "Don’t you think the graves on that hill over there are a bit too numerous?"