The group made their way down.

Once the waterfall stopped flowing, the heat set in. The air was humid and sticky, and the strange odor of river mud, combined with the large gathering of mutant beasts, created a smell that was hard to describe—part fishy, part foul—and quite unpleasant.

“Why don’t you wait up here, Sister Qu?” Cen An suggested.

Qu Yue laughed heartily. “You weren’t even born yet when your sister turned the mutant beasts into mush!” With that, a vine as thick as a thigh shot out from her palm, clinging to the rock face as she led the way down.

Zhao Wu shrugged, using his metal-element ability to conjure metal plates protruding from the cliff face, which he stepped on as he made his way down to find his wife. Cen An shook his head, let Su Rui wrap his arm around his waist, and glided down low.

The rest of the group also used their own unique abilities, and before long, they had all gathered at the bottom of the cliff. Below the waterfall was a small lake; the ground around it was muddy, bearing traces of where a large number of mutant beasts had trodden.

“Judging by the footprints, this group has scattered. So what were they here for?” Wang Lie looked at the ground suspiciously. “Did they really just come to drink water?”

“The water smells off,” Su Rui frowned slightly. “It seems like there’s something in it.”

“I’ll go check it out.” Xiao Ji rolled up his sleeves, thinking to himself that finally, he’d found a chance to prove himself. Without waiting for anyone else to speak, he plopped right in.

The group waited patiently for a moment, then saw his head pop up as he closed his eyes in distress: “Ouch! This water stings my eyes—I can’t see a thing down there!”

“So,” Su Rui said, puzzled, “that’s why I was about to ask—why not use a water-type ability?” 

Xiao Ji:?

Su Rui raised his hand, and surging abilities erupted from his palm. The silver ring on his finger glowed as water-type and space-type abilities manifested simultaneously. The water in the small lake surged upward like the Milky Way pouring back into the heavens, actually flowing skyward… A spatial rift appeared out of thin air, and once the water flowed into it, it vanished without a trace.

Tian Yuan raised an eyebrow slightly. “Have your abilities improved again?”

Su Rui clenched his fist, closing the rift and making the water vanish. “Almost there.” 

He turned to the others. “Don’t meddle.” Everyone looked up at the sky in unison.

Cen An, who lacked supernatural abilities, had no idea what level of power was required to achieve such a feat, and the others, in unspoken agreement, didn’t bring it up either. The lake drained away, revealing the lake bed beneath, along with fish flapping their tails wildly.

“This lake isn’t very big or deep,” Xiao Ji said as he climbed out, shaking himself like a puppy until she was dry. “There’s a lot down there—I even felt a hairpin.”

He held out his hand, and sure enough, he was clutching a rough wooden hairpin. Ordinary hairpins would rot after soaking in water for a short while, but this one was coated with tung oil, making it waterproof.

“Is this where the villagers dump their trash?” Wang Lie was growing more and more puzzled. “It looks like there are some scraps of cloth and stuff in there, too.”

The group exchanged glances. Finally, Cen An rubbed his temples. “First, let’s fish these things out. See if we can figure anything out.”

━━ 🐈‍⬛ ━━

In the village.

Han Chengye was resting his eyes when Han Si rushed in. “Third Uncle.” Han Chengye snapped his eyes open. “Have you figured everything out?”

Han Si quickly nodded. “The fire started in the storage room. All the tung oil inside was burned, but everything else is fine.”

Han Chengye slowly relaxed. “That’s good. Be more careful from now on. If the Ancestors or the Beast God decide to start a fire, I won’t be able to protect you. Did that group leave the village again today?”

Han Si nodded again. “Yes, I sent men to follow them for a while. But they were moving too fast—our men lost track of them. Still, judging by the direction they took, they’re still searching for the Divine Flowers. They probably haven’t discovered anything.”

Han Chengye relaxed even further. “They’re in a hurry to find the Three-God Flower for medicine, so they probably don’t have time to meddle in our affairs. Still, it’s better to be cautious. The festival is in a couple of days; we’ll have someone lure them out of the village then.”

Han Si leaned in and rubbed his shoulders obsequiously. “Third Uncle, our village has so many Divine Flowers, yet I’ve never heard of them being used to make any medicine. Since they have a recipe, why can’t we…”

Han Chengye snorted coldly. “I told you you’re short-sighted—you’ll never amount to anything! What good is a single recipe? If we organize the Beast God Festival properly, the Beast God will naturally bless our village with a thriving population and a long, prosperous future.”

Han Si listened respectfully to the rebuke. “Yes, sir.” Then, as if remembering something, he whispered, “By the way, Third Uncle, the villagers say that on the day of the fire, someone saw Sister Han again…” His voice grew fearful. “Do you think she’s come back? Could this fire be…”

“Nonsense!” Han Chengye slammed his fist on the table, his anger flaring. “My eldest daughter was offered to the Beast God long ago—how could she possibly return! May our ancestors protect us—how could her ghost possibly cause trouble?! If I hear another word from you that shows such disrespect for our ancestors, go to the ancestral hall and accept your punishment yourself!”

Han Si quickly bowed his head. “Yes, Third Uncle.”

Seeing that his attitude was decent enough, Han Chengye reluctantly suppressed his anger. “All right, go downstairs and make preparations. The quality of this offering isn’t very high. To avoid displeasing the Beast God, make sure she eats a little more these days. And…”

The room was filled only with the hum of murmured conversation.

“I think that’s about it.” Xiao Ji raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his brow, only to smear it all over his face, leaving him with a smudged face. “There wasn’t much debris in the lake, but it all looked very old.”

The other ability users, however, weren’t as disheveled as he was; they were simply gathered around a pile of objects on the ground, examining them.

Scraps of cloth, hairpins, shoes, a clump of hair wrapped in cloth… and some broken bones. Tian Yuan examined them and identified them as animal bones, still bearing gnaw marks. They’d likely been gnawed on by the mutant beasts below, then cleaned off by the fish and shrimp.

“The fish and shrimp in this lake sure are plump,” Team Leader Liao said, eyeing them eagerly. 

“Why don’t we eat first?” Team Leader Liao was invincible in battle, but the moment he had to use his brain, he started grumbling about being hungry.

Fortunately, no one was counting on him to use his brain anyway, so they all pretended not to hear him.                

“What do these things tell us?” Cen An frowned as he examined them. “Why did that girl lead us here?” 

“Could she have been trying to send us on a wild goose chase on purpose? Is she in cahoots with Han Chengye and the others?” Tian Yuan asked.

Cen An thought for a moment and shook his head. “But even if she hadn’t said anything, we’d still be out here looking for flowers every day. What’s the point?”

He carefully recalled what she had said. “She thanked us for saving Han Sanya… the girl who fell off the mountain? If none of the girls in the village ever go out, then why did Han Sanya fall off the mountain?”

Su Rui suddenly turned his head. “Who?”

Everyone followed his gaze. After a moment, Qu Yue asked in confusion, “Didn’t a shadow just flash by?” 

Xiao Ji nodded frantically. “Yes, it was white—it looked like a ghost…”

Yu Lin asked in disbelief, “Is that for real? Is this place haunted?”

Wang Lie snorted coldly, “This village is full of oddities—it wouldn’t be surprising if it were haunted.” 

Cen An said helplessly, “What are you all staring at? Let’s go after it!”

As he spoke, he scrambled up onto Su Rui’s back, shouting, “Hurry, hurry!” Su Rui gave a light cough, raised his arm to wrap around him, and swept off in that direction on a gust of wind.

A strong scent of Divine Flowers wafted through the air. Just as the group was halfway there, the white shadow vanished. Given how it appeared and disappeared so mysteriously, if it wasn’t some rare supernatural ability, it could only be a real ghost.

A vast expanse of Divine Flowers covered the mountains and fields. Even if you added up all the flower fields they’d found near Dongying Village, none of them were as large as this one. But the group had no time to admire the flowers; what caught their attention was a solitary grave standing in the middle of the field.

The graves stood side by side, yet the sight felt desolate and lonely, giving off an inexplicable sense of neglect… Perhaps they truly were neglected.

Death is certainly worthy of a ceremony; Cen An had attended Zhang Xuedong’s funeral. Funerals in this world are kept simple. Since Zhang Xuedong had no close relatives or loved ones, it should have been a very quiet affair, but the villagers of Yongning Village still erected a tombstone for her, built a grave, and set out colorful paper offerings for her memorial… This is humanity’s respect for death, as well as a reflection on one’s own final resting place.

If a single person passes away alone and without support, there might be something wrong with that person. But if an entire group of people ends up that way, there’s definitely something wrong with the world.

Cen An walked slowly over, gazing at that cluster of lonely, bare graves, feeling as though he had stepped into an orphanage for the dead…

“Let’s take a guess,” Tian Yuan’s voice snapped him out of his reverie. “Is it that Dongying Village has unusual customs, or is there something suspicious about how these people died?”

Cen An snapped out of his reverie and cleared his throat. “The latter.”

The others looked at his expression and said in unison, “The latter.”

Tian Yuan breathed a slight sigh of relief and asked, “So, the person who led us here—is he connected to the people of Dongying Village, or to these isolated graves?”

This time, Cen An paused to think for a moment. “I think it’s related to both, but… the latter.” The others nodded in agreement. “The latter.”

“Then it’s pretty clear,” Tian Yuan said to Cen An, spreading his hands slightly. “Brother Cen, we need to investigate these people’s identities and the causes of their deaths.”

Cen An thought it over briefly and nodded; that was indeed the case.

Xiao Ji, however, scratched his head—a gesture somewhat reminiscent of Captain Liao—“Then why didn’t the person who led us here just show up and explain everything clearly? Wasn’t he asking for our help?”

“Probably because it’s inconvenient… Ah!” Cen An clapped his hands. “I remember now.” He looked at Su Rui. “Earlier, in that courtyard where we were hanging up the laundry, didn’t we see a few sets of white clothes?”

For some reason, Su Rui felt a bit downcast; upon hearing this, he simply nodded. “Right.”

Cen An glanced at him but didn’t ask anything; instead, he continued speaking to Tian Yuan and the others: “At the time, there were a few white garments hanging on the clothesline, and I took a few extra glances at them. Now that I think about it, they looked a bit like the clothes that white shadow was wearing just now.”

Why did he take a closer look? Because in this world, very few people wore white clothes—they didn’t hold up well against dirt, and the materials were hard to come by. To get white clothes, you had to do what Cen An did: weave fabric from spider silk. Most people’s clothes were still made of hemp and straw, a dull yellow color.

The chief said, “Let’s go take a look at that courtyard!”

No one objected; after all, it was still early, so they followed the two men in that direction.

On the way, Cen An looked at the silly dog leading him and asked in puzzlement, “What’s wrong? Why are you suddenly so down?” The dog glanced at him but kept its head down.

Cen An found it a bit amusing; the last time he’d seen Su Rui like this was when he’d been snatched away by the fake Shi Long. “Speak up—what are you trying to be so cool for?” Su Rui said dejectedly, “You saw that graveyard just now, and it made you unhappy.”

Cen An nodded. “So what?” It would be hard for anyone to feel happy seeing a row of isolated graves, wouldn’t it? Unless they were a psychopath. Su Rui muttered something under his breath.

Cen An didn’t catch it, so he pinched Su Rui’s cheek to lift his face and make him repeat it. Su Rui mumbled, “I don’t know why you’re upset. But they all know.”

Cen An racked his brain but couldn’t come up with a reason, and burst out laughing. “Is that why? You could’ve just asked me.” Su Rui saw his smile, paused for a moment, then snapped back to reality and turned his head. “They know without asking.”

Cen An ruffled the wolf’s head. “If they don’t ask, they can only guess—and their guesses might not be right. But if you ask, you’ll know the absolute correct answer.” 

The white wolf realized—that’s exactly it! His eyes immediately lit up. “Okay!”

He added enthusiastically, “Next time you’re upset, you can tell me too. Whatever you want to do, I’ll help you!” He thought for a moment. “Or maybe I should go level that grave first?”

Cen An：……

He smiled and pressed the dog’s head down. “That’s not necessary.”

When he returned to the front of the courtyard, everything seemed unchanged—laundry was still hanging out to dry all over the place, and the woman was still there.

Cen An stepped forward and knocked on the courtyard gate. Just as he was about to speak, the woman turned around, and his voice faltered—it wasn’t the girl from before. “Hello, I…”

This girl was a bit younger than the last one, still very pretty, though her complexion was a bit pale—perhaps from spending so much time indoors? She smiled, looking Cen An and Su Rui up and down. “You must be the distinguished guests from Yongning Village, right?”

Cen An nodded, wanting to ask something but unsure how to phrase it.

The girl looked at the person behind him, her gaze sweeping over Qu Yue. A hint of envy flashed in her eyes but quickly vanished. “What brings you here to see me?”

Cen An replied, “The solitary grave in the woods…”

The girl didn’t answer, however. Instead, she asked with a beaming smile, “My sister said you’re a good person. You gave a gift to…” She stopped short, omitting that part, and continued, 

“Let me ask you a question. There are two people in the village: one gets beaten every day but still has to work, while the other is lazy and takes advantage of the first. One day, these two got into a fight. Distinguished guests, which one would you help?”

Cen An’s mind worked quickly, and a look of realization flashed across his face. “Oh… you aren’t here to ask for help.” The girl still said nothing, continuing to look at him with a smile, as if waiting for an answer.

Cen An felt a pang of sadness. “It makes no sense in this world for someone to work every day and still be beaten,” he said. The girl paused for a moment, her eyes fixed on Cen An’s.

They were the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen—gentle, compassionate, clear, and slightly moist, like a sky before rain… The owner of those eyes repeated softly, “That’s not how the world works.”

Her eyes suddenly welled up with tears, and she quickly looked down.

After a long while, she said in a sniffling voice, “In two days, the village will be bustling. You’d better go somewhere else to get some peace and quiet.” With that, she picked up the basin of laundry and ran back into the house.

The group exchanged glances at the courtyard gate. Aside from a few who weren’t the sharpest, everyone else wore grave expressions. Xiao Ji rubbed his arm. “What does that mean? Why did Brother Cen say they weren’t here to ask for help?”      

“They’re here to make sure we don’t help each other,” Tian Yuan said in a low voice, casting a worried glance at Cen An.

Yu Lin was even more worried than he was, but he didn’t have any good solutions either, so he could only chime in, “These women must have come up with some way to fight back against the people of Dongying Village. We’re the wild card—they want to make sure we won’t side with the other side.”

“I see…” Xiao Ji murmured. “I wonder what these girls have been through… Anyway, what should we do? Are we really not going to help either side?”

“What are you thinking?” Qu Yue gave him a light tap on the head. “Do you really think our little Buddha could stay neutral? He’s probably already plotting how to get back at Han Chengye.”

Cen An looked up helplessly. “Sister Qu, I heard that.”

Qu Yue laughed. “All right, don’t overthink it. At worst, we’ll just give them a hand.”

Cen An tugged at the corners of his mouth, still looking rather listless. But seeing the concerned expressions on his friends’ faces, he felt a wave of warmth… Finally, he slowly spoke up, “I think I have a pretty good idea of what they’ve been through.”

Qu Yue froze, and the others froze too. “What did they go through?”

Cen An flipped his hand, and a piece of cloth appeared in his palm—it was the very strip they’d fished out of the lake earlier. He unfolded it. “Look here.”

Everyone looked down. It was half a pattern. If Cen An hadn’t pointed it out, they would have assumed it was simply a remnant from the fabric’s manufacturing process, but now that it was pointed out, it looked as though it had been deliberately printed there.

Cen An whispered, “That girl just now, and the one from last time—their clothes both had this pattern. I’ve just thought it over carefully: none of the men in Dongying Village have it.”

The crowd gasped…

Xiao Ji reacted the most strongly; after all, he was young and found it hard to accept such a thing. “No… that can’t be right. Didn’t we find any bodies in the lake? Not even bones…”

Tian Yuan whispered, “Do you remember the mutant beasts that were gathered around the lake earlier?”

With so many mutant beasts, any corpses or bones would likely have been chewed to pieces and devoured. The debris at the bottom of the lake, those isolated graves…

“And that white shadow.” Cen An took a deep breath, flipped his hand again, and a Nightmare Divine Flower appeared in his palm. “The Nightmare Divine Flower can also be ingested, but it has only one effect…”

He had once consumed the Nightmare Divine Flower in the game. After ingesting it, a system prompt would pop up: “You have transformed into a terrifying nightmare!”

After consuming the Nightmare Divine Flower, your body would transform into a ghostly state; all skills would be sealed, movement speed would increase by 30%, but you wouldn’t be immune to attacks. Aside from scaring people, it really had no other use.

“A 30% boost…” No wonder that shadow was so fast.

Cen An felt another tap on his forehead. He looked up to see Su Rui staring at him. “I’ve sensed it—there’s no fresh flesh or blood in that lake.” Cen An froze. “What?”

Su Rui admitted frankly, “Did I guess wrong? Isn’t that why you’re upset?”              

“Ah, no, actually it is… Explain it in detail.” Cen An grabbed the finger that was poking his brow and wiggled it.

Su Rui said, “There hasn’t been any fresh flesh in that lake for at least two or three years… No, wait—I should say there isn’t any human flesh, but there is animal flesh. I suspect that since they’ve been preparing for so long, they’ve already found a way to save some—or even all—of their companions.”

Cen An felt her heart settle. “Yes, you’re right.”

Qu Yue was also taken aback. “That makes sense. These sisters have been biding their time for so long—they would never expose themselves unless they were confident of a decisive victory.” With that thought, everyone’s spirits lifted. Although the tragedy had already occurred, every life saved counted.

“Sister Qu, go find out two things,” Cen An said after gathering her thoughts. “First, what exactly burned in that fire that day, and why were they in such a hurry? Second, what is the purpose of this courtyard?”

“Yes, Chief,” Qu Yue agreed readily, not at all surprised by Cen An’s request. The people of Dongying Village had oppressed women for so long that they held a natural contempt for them; her going would hardly attract any attention.

“For the next two days, we’ll lie low and not arouse their suspicion… Keep searching the mountains for the Divine Flowers.”

Two days passed in the blink of an eye.

Early that morning, Cen An and his group noticed something unusual about Dongying Village.

The villagers wore an unnatural look of excitement on their faces, as if something major—something good—were about to happen. But their bloodshot eyes made the whole scene seem somewhat terrifying.

Tian Yuan whispered, “Should we go out for a bit and then come back, or…?” Cen An thought for a moment. “Let’s go out and put on a show…”

Before he could finish, the main gate suddenly swung open, and the ability user guarding it rushed inside. “Brother Cen, Xiao Shitou’s dad is here. He says Xiao Shitou is missing and asks for your help searching the mountain!”

Cen An froze, exclaiming, “What? Missing?!”

He immediately tried to rush out, but then suddenly remembered something and stopped in his tracks. “Su Rui?” Behind him, Su Rui didn’t utter a sound—his figure vanished instantly.

Cen An composed himself. Su Rui had extremely keen senses; finding someone would certainly be no problem. Besides, Han Chengye’s only goal was to get him out of the village today. After all, Xiao Shitou was still technically one of the village’s able-bodied men—nothing would happen to him…

From outside came the wailing of someone crying without any action to back it up. The ability user gestured: Xiao Shitou’s father was still out there crying. A flicker of disgust crossed Cen An’s face as he turned around. “Brother Fei, will you come with me?”

Yu Fei’s dark robe flashed as he stood behind him.

The two stepped outside, and sure enough, Xiao Shitou’s father was wailing there. As soon as he saw Cen An, he rushed over to grab him: “Honored guest! Honored guest! My Xiao Shitou is missing. I’ve heard you’re both extremely capable—please help me find him…”

Cen An calmly dodged his hand. “All right, I’ll help you.”

The boy’s father was overjoyed and followed him out of the village. “That’s great, that’s great! Honored guest, follow me—Shitou went off to play in that direction…”

The three of them gradually walked farther and farther away, heading back toward the village.

Back at the courtyard gate, another Cen An and another Yu Fei were still standing there. Yu Fei said with a stiff expression, “At least six hours.”

Cen An nodded. “What about the people following him…?” 

Yu Fei replied, “Same.”

Cen An felt relieved. The group retreated into the courtyard, closed the gate, and acted as if everything were normal.

Inside the gate, everyone except Su Rui had already gathered. Sweat still glistened on Qu Yue’s temples. “I finally managed to find out.”

Without waiting to be asked, she blurted out, “They’re holding a ritual today, but not at the ancestral hall—it’s in a cave on the north side of the village.”

Cen An looked puzzled. “The one that caught fire before?”

Qu Yue shook her head. “It’s a different one. There are many caves in that area, each serving a different purpose. Since it’s a place of worship, the villagers get very nervous at the slightest disturbance. Rumor has it they worship a beast god, and once the ritual is successful, the beast god will protect their village from being harassed by mutant beasts.”

Team Leader Liao grimaced as he listened. “What a load of nonsense. Do you really think those mutant beasts would be that obedient?”       

“At least judging by the results, their ritual was a success,” Cen An sneered, gesturing for Qu Yue to continue.

Qu Yue: “The fire that day started in one of the caves; they were burning tung oil.” As she spoke, she glanced at Yu Lin, whose single eye rolled as far back as it could.

“Oh, right, about that courtyard,” Qu Yue said. “This isn’t really a taboo topic—the villagers told me everything when I asked. That courtyard is where women go to stay during ‘those days.’ They believe women aren’t pure during that time and might anger their ancestors, so they’re sent out to live there. Women who’ve just given birth also move there, because they’re impure due to the blood. Since they don’t want to let them eat for free, they give them some dirty clothes to wash.” Sister Qu’s tone was icy; the villager she’d questioned was still hanging from a tree outside the village.

Cen An opened his mouth, but couldn’t think of what to say in response.

Suddenly, a figure appeared out of thin air in the courtyard. Su Rui landed, cradling Xiao Shitou, who was fast asleep in his arms. Cen An rushed over. “Is he… asleep? Where did you find him?”                    

“At his house. The door was locked,” Su Rui said, handing the child to Qu Yue.

Perhaps because of the commotion, Xiao Shitou opened his eyes groggily and exclaimed happily, “Big brother!”                   

“Good boy,” Cen An said softly as he ruffled his hair. “Xiao Shitou, would you like Big Brother to take you to find your mom? Do you know where they’re keeping her?” Xiao Shitou looked timid and whispered, “They said Mom went to serve our ancestors and can’t just come home…”

Cen An looked at her. “So do you want your mom to come back?”

Xiao Shitou nodded immediately. “I do… It’s really hard over there.” Cen An ruffled her hair again. “Then take us there.”

Xiao Shitou gave a firm nod, stood up, and led them out the door.

There weren’t many people left on the road; the villagers had all gone to the cave up north. Xiao Shitou led them around a bend… and they arrived at their destination—the ancestral hall.