Chapter 48

The night sky was the same as the first day they entered the dungeon. Dark clouds covered the sky, and the moonlight was nowhere to be seen.

Fortunately, it would only rain the next night, so there were no major issues on the first night.

The night passed in a state of panic.

Everything that happened before dark was exactly the same as in the previous reincarnation.

This time, under everyone's watchful eyes, Lao Qiang's corpse was not hung on the old locust tree, but rather intelligently hung on a different roof. Of course, there was no sign of change in the tragic state of his death.

Xu Su was stunned. "This corpse is so intelligent. It knows if anyone is watching it?"

In this regard, Zong Jiu had basically confirmed a thought in his heart through this matter.

The team in the mud hut was fine. Everyone ate and drank to their hearts' content, which lessened the tension from before.

Most of the time, people's confidence and courage came from external sources. Other things aside, Magician's omnipotent attitude gave them great confidence.

After Lao Qiang's incident, there was nothing else that required their attention that night.

Zong Jiu told everyone to get a good night's sleep. They had to conserve their energy tomorrow. Not only did they have to save the woman, but they also had to fight against the villagers. This was not an easy task.

Xu Sen raised his hand. "What are we going to do tomorrow?"

Zong Jiu rubbed his chin. "We'll wait outside the hut first. If we see the woman, we'll take her away first."

"Once we succeed, we'll retreat into the forest immediately. Don't delay."

No one had any objections to this plan.

They knew that there were only two breakthroughs. One was the woman, and the other was Granny Yin in the temple.

No one knew what happened on the night they failed the mission. The only thing they could do now was to gather all the clues and avoid a tragedy like the previous reincarnation.

The next morning, everyone woke up before the sun rose.

It had to be said that Zhuge An's Tai Chi Eight Trigrams was a good item. It could be used to attack and defend, and it could also be used to light a fire to estimate the time.

At a quarter to five in the morning, the trainees finished their preparations and filed out of the mud hut.

The elders who were standing guard outside the earthen hut and had also learned from them to light a fire. When they saw them coming out one by one, they all revealed vigilant gazes.

After the incident at the village entrance where the Zong Jiu was unwilling to lend a helping hand, the atmosphere between the two groups could be said to be tense. The elders felt that the rookies did not have a good attitude and were not even willing to help. Now that they saw them, they were even more unwilling to give them a good attitude.

"Stay hidden. You guys go and guard around Wang Shou's house."

Zong Jiu turned his head and allowed Zhuge An to lead the rookies away while he turned to walk towards another team.

Anthony and the others were the first to show unfriendly looks.

"What's there to be nervous about? I'm not looking for you guys. I'm looking for Senior No. 9."

Zong Jiu purposely emphasized the words "No. 9" and nodded at Azan. "Senior, can I have a word with you?"

The black-clothed Ah Zan silently accepted his suggestion and turned to walk to the side.

The elders' alliance was very loose to begin with. Although Azan stood with them, he did as he pleased. He was not a petty person who held grudges. He did not take Zong Jiu's incident at the village entrance to heart, and the others could not care less.

[Ah, they want to talk alone! Damn it, why is the livestream camera in this dungeon shared?]

[That's right, we also want to know what the two of them are talking about in private. Sob sob sob.]

[I feel that Level S seniors are actually quite easy to talk to. I used to think that Azan raised ghosts and shaved their heads, but who would have thought that he was actually a good person!]

After walking to the side, Azan spoke first, "Why are you looking for me?"

Zong Jiu, "It's nothing important. I just have a guess."

"I heard from senior that the Bodhisattva soil in front of the temple at the village entrance is extremely cold?"

"That's right."

The black-clothed Ah Zan nodded. "That villager once said that any plant transplanted there would not be able to survive because the soil was too cold. However, this kind of coldness isn't caused by the existence of spiritual beings. Instead, it's an innate coldness. "

Innately cold Yin objects were as rare as innately pure Yang objects. If Azan did not see the Bodhisattva soil in Tong Bai Village with his own eyes, he would not have imagined that there would be such pure Yin soil in the world, without a trace of other Yin elements.

"If I have to say …"

He hinted vaguely, "It does seem like the method of immortals. Because the world cannot naturally produce such soil, even the soil of the underworld will inevitably have flaws or impurities. "

Of course, this conclusion was mostly because Azan felt the Light of Buddha in the temple in Tong Bai Village. Otherwise, he would not have dared to jump to conclusions.

Zong Jiu pondered for a moment. "Then how do you explain growing plants on this soil?"

Azan answered, "Unless it's a pure Yang plant, only then can it grow without being affected by the cold."

As mentioned before, the probability of this happening was negligible.

Zong Jiu decided to skip the topic for now.

"I have another question. If a normal person eats this soil for a long time, will there be any side effects?"

Azan furrowed his brows, "Humans are Yang, just like the soil is Yin. If they eat it for a long time, it will cause serious damage to their Yang body. If they eat it for a long time, it will cause them to have a half-Yin body. It's not impossible to forcefully open the Yin Yang Eye."

"I see."

Zong Jiu let out a long sigh, "Thank you for your answer, senior. After listening to my explanation, what do you think of my suggestion of people turning into ghosts? "

Zong Jiu had this speculation a long time ago.

First of all, he saw the pupils of the villagers turn black from time to time. Every time, it was only for a split second, and then it quickly returned to normal.

Second, when he and Yi Yuesi encountered the ghost in the tunnel, it was obvious that the ghost still had the ability to think. It did not immediately turn into a mindless ghost.

Lastly, people turning into ghosts was not an isolated case. Similar cases were recorded in ancient and modern legends. But perhaps it was just as Azan said, the conditions were too harsh.

Now, the harshest condition had been unintentionally met.

"If they eat Bodhisattva soil for a long time and supplement it with evil thoughts, it's highly possible."

Azan frowned, "But it requires a terrifying amount of evil thoughts. It's not just terrifying, it has to be enormous."

Halfway through his sentence, he didn't continue.

He had seen how evil the people in this village were. Just the fact that they liked to eat human flesh was enough to make people shudder.

As for why Azan kept saying that the villagers of Tong Bai Village had a fetish for eating human flesh, and not because they were forced into a corner. It was because he found fresh human flesh soaked in blood in the water tanks of almost every household. Some of the villagers had surplus food, but they also had water tanks for human flesh. When he went to the butcher's house, he found that the butcher's firewood shed was full of frozen corpses. Many of the corpses were even cleaned of the flesh on the bones. They did not want to waste any of it.

The only thing worth celebrating was that these corpses did not have any resentment. They were probably ordinary people who starved to death on the side of the road. Their bodies were picked up and their flesh was cut off to be sold. They had not reached the point of killing people and cutting off their flesh.

If they were killing people and cutting off their flesh, Azan would have noticed as soon as they entered the village. There was no need to wait until now.

It was obvious that the villagers were addicted to eating human flesh. In the forest behind the village, there were still many trees with bark hanging from them. Plus, there was edible Bodhisattva soil, so they obviously had a choice.

Even if the villagers had this fetish and the Bodhisattva soil as a catalyst, in all fairness, Azan did not think that it was possible to turn people's hearts into ghosts.

Zong Jiu did not argue with him on this topic. He changed the topic. "We do need more evidence or facts to prove it, but since there is such a possibility, we should prepare for the worst. What do you think, senior?"

Azan relaxed his eyebrows. "Of course."

If the worst case scenario was true, then the village would be in a much more difficult situation.

Azan knew better than anyone how difficult it was to turn people's hearts into ghosts. What was even more terrifying was that the process of turning people's hearts into ghosts did not happen overnight. Ghosts would always lurk in people's hearts. Once they accumulated to a certain amount, they would break out of the body and be devoured by endless evil thoughts. They would become evil ghosts in human skin.

After getting the information he wanted, Zong Jiu immediately rushed to the village head's mud hut in the north of the village.

In the last Samsara, Wang Shou rushed out with his injuries at dawn. Since they had the necessary information this time, they had to hurry.

When Zong Jiu arrived at the mud hut, Xu Sen, who was guarding the door, hurriedly reported to him in a low voice. "We haven't found anything yet."

At this point, everyone felt that it was strange.

According to the information, the woman must have sneaked into the house before dawn to see if her daughter was still there. However, she ran into Wang Shou and stabbed him with a hairpin in desperation. Then she ran out in a hurry.

Therefore, the best solution was to stop the woman before she entered the mud hut. This way, they could avoid a direct confrontation with the villagers and leave a buffer for the situation.

"Keep watching. It should be around this time."

Zong Jiu looked up at the sky and crouched in the corner.

More than ten people densely surrounded the village head's house. As long as someone rushed out or entered, they would not be able to escape their eyes.

After about ten minutes, footsteps suddenly came from the small forest behind the mud hut.

All the trainees looked at each other and walked in that direction.

By the time they got there, a few trainees had already subdued the woman.

In order to prevent the villagers from hearing, they had no choice but to cover the woman's mouth with strips of cloth and take her to a place far away from the mud hut.

On the other side, the vermilion roof of the temple was faintly discernible under the cover of the forest.

After walking into the forest, they untied the strips of cloth and formed a circle.

Not only Zong Jiu's team, but another team obviously had the same goal. When they saw them subduing the woman, they all followed.

The woman's face was full of fear. She opened her mouth and shouted, "Help! Someone come! You lechers! "

"Auntie, we mean no harm."

Xu Sen hurried to calm her down. But it was clear that the other party was very agitated. Not only was she agitated, but she also tried to break out of the encirclement.

This chaos lasted for almost half an hour before the woman calmed down.

"You're not lying to me? You're not sent by that bastard Wang Shou? "

Seeing that her attitude finally softened, everyone sighed in relief. "We're really not."

It seemed that the woman believed them. She looked at the trainees suspiciously. "Then move aside. I still have to find my daughter."

When this topic was brought up, everyone was silent for a moment.

"Your daughter was already … yesterday."

After a while, someone was about to speak, but Zong Jiu directly interrupted him.

"Auntie, we want to ask you something. If you're willing to tell us, we'll naturally send you back in one piece. "

The woman sneered. "I knew you were up to no good."

The white-haired youth pretended not to hear her accusation.

He stared into the woman's eyes. "Three years ago, the old woman who lived behind the old pagoda tree in the east of the village. How did she die?"

The woman's expression changed slightly. "What, what are you talking about? I don't understand."

"Don't understand?" Zong Jiu chuckled. "Our daughter is six or seven years old. She's been married for three or four years. How can she not understand?"

He continued, "In the past few days, there have been villagers who died mysteriously in the village. You came from your mother's house alone, so you should have heard about it. The others said that the old woman came back to take your life. "

At this point, the woman's expression changed even more.

This time, the other trainees also noticed that something was wrong.

That was because her expression was nothing else. She was dodging, but at the same time, there was obvious fear mixed in.

It was obvious that the woman was really afraid of the malicious spirit that Zong Jiu spoke of coming back to take her life.

At a glance, everyone knew that something was up. This was clearly the reaction of someone who had done something wrong.

She opened her mouth. "If that old woman is really found, what's the use of telling you?"

This time, the one who spoke was Azan in black.

"If you haven't done anything wrong, naturally you won't be afraid of ghosts knocking on your door. But if you have done something wrong … the sea of bitterness is boundless. If you have a sincere and repentant heart, maybe ghosts will let you go. "

These words seemed to give the woman some reassurance. After hesitating for a moment, she finally relaxed.

"… Three years ago, I had just married into this village with my daughter."

The woman was originally a widow from the neighboring village. She was beautiful, but her husband's family unexpectedly passed away early. She was widowed at a young age.

Her husband's family didn't have much money. A widow like her couldn't get any benefits in the village. Her mother's family couldn't take care of a married daughter, so her life became more difficult.

Coincidentally, the son of the village chief of Tong Bai Village was also a widower. His ex-wife died in childbirth after giving birth to a son for him. Coincidentally, there was a matchmaker in the two villages who took the money to matchmake. After meeting Wang Shou, he drooled over the widow's beauty. The two of them agreed after some reluctance.

However, after marrying, the woman's belly failed to live up to expectations. She was unable to give birth. Her status in her husband's family became lower and lower. Every day, she had to beg the village chief's whims. Wang Shou often scolded and beat her.

The village chief's family had the final say in Tong Bai Village. Coincidentally, the famine began that year, and the people had no way to make a living. She didn't have much to eat at home.

"That granny also has no children. Her husband passed away long ago. But she's old, so she lives alone in that old mud house. "

The old woman was a Buddhist.

The woman said that before the Bodhisattva appeared in Tong Bai Village three years ago, the old woman was the only one in the village who believed in Buddhism.

Before that, no one cared about the Bodhisattva land in front of the temple. The temple was short and rundown, and no one could see its original appearance. After all, the Bodhisattva land couldn't grow plants. It was already a famine. Who would care about a land where nothing could grow?

"Only the old woman believed in Buddhism. She took care of the Bodhisattva land day after day. She watered it day and night, and often took a broom to the temple to clean."

At this point, the woman hesitated. "Not only that, she also had a hobby of eating the Bodhisattva land. She only ate that land every day."

"However, she was a kind person. During the famine, she ate the land herself and gave the rest of the food to the villagers. However, the matter of her eating the land was later discovered by the villagers, so the villagers also took the land back and ate it like her. "

"The Bodhisattva land originally only had a shallow layer. When the villagers ate it, she didn't have enough to eat. Because of this, she quarreled with everyone for a while, complaining that others ate the food she gave them and wanted to fight with her for the land."

"Later, there wasn't enough Bodhisattva land, so she starved to death in that old mud house."

Her eyes flickered. "The villagers only found out after more than ten days. By then, the corpse was already smelly."

"Although the villagers didn't do the right thing, when there was a famine, who cared about the consequences? Everyone just wanted to survive. They mistreated the old woman, but no one sent her food. Perhaps because of this, she held a grudge, and now … sigh. "

The woman's expression was a little angry. "But later, the village raised money to build a memorial tablet for her. If they still want to kill her, it's too much."

Many of the trainees showed a look of sudden realization.

Only Zong Jiu and Azan in black were still frowning.

"Okay, you want me to say it, and I've already told you. Now you can let me go."

Zong Jiu said lightly, "Okay, let's go."

After that, he motioned for Xu Su and the others to loosen their shackles and follow him.

Although Xu Su and the others were confused, they were used to following Zong Jiu's instructions over the past few days. Therefore, they didn't ask anything and followed the white-haired youth out of the forest.

On the other hand, Anthony's group of elders obviously wanted to get more information from the woman, so they didn't interfere. Instead, they watched the newcomers leave with cold eyes.

It was worth mentioning that Azan in black muttered a few words and left the group of elders alone.

Zong Jiu didn't delay and led the newcomers to the temple at the back of the village.

Xu Sen whispered, "Brother Jiu, is there something wrong with what the woman said?"

Unlike Zong Jiu, they didn't hear the conversation between the old village chief and Granny Yin in the temple, so they couldn't tell if there were any contradictions in their narrations. In fact, if they hadn't collected any other clues, the woman's words would have answered all their questions.

"If that old woman turned into a ghost and came back to take revenge on the village, it's not impossible."

Xu Su pondered. "Whether it's the timeline she mentioned or the reason why the villagers were fighting to eat the Bodhisattva soil, they can all be solved. It's just that …"

He remembered the scratch marks on half of the old mud house's wall and felt that something was wrong. Xu Su couldn't pinpoint exactly what was wrong.

"There's a problem. Of course there's a problem."

Zong Jiu shrugged. "She's lying. It's too obvious."

"As for why it's hard for you to notice, it's because her lie is extremely clever. It's not a lie from beginning to end, but a mixture of truth and falsehood."

[F * ck, I knew she was lying.]

[That's right. That woman kept saying that she cared about her daughter. Why didn't she take her daughter with her when she escaped?]

[Sigh, it's too difficult. It wasn't easy to find a clue, but it turned out to be fake. There aren't any clear clues in this pocket dimension. It's driving me crazy.]

When the woman was speaking, Zong Jiu had been carefully observing her micro-expressions.

When a person was lying, their micro-expressions would change. Moreover, she was obviously hiding something extremely important.

"So my guess is that not only did she lie, but she might also be an accomplice."

"Alright, we've got this clue. Since the living can't provide any more information, next … we'll have to find the dead to get information. "

Hearing his words, the others recalled that Granny Yin in the temple had said that she would try to go down to the underworld in the next few days.

Going down to the underworld meant going down to the underworld. It was also known as going down to the underworld or going down to the underworld.

There were two ways to go down to the underworld. One was to go down to the underworld alone and find a designated ghost. Then, she would invite the ghost to possess her body so that the living who missed the dead could talk to her.

The other way was similar to watching the fall of the underworld, where one would bring the living to the underworld. However, this method was extremely difficult and risky. Unless one was a powerful Taoist, no one would try it.

Zong Jiu was certain that Tong Bai Village's current situation was definitely not because of the old woman's ghost, Hua Cheng, who had returned to settle accounts with them.

Since the old woman had not turned into a ghost, they could try to find the old woman's soul through going down to the underworld.

The villagers were full of lies and had done something wrong. It was more convenient to ask the person directly than anything else.

Even Azan, who had been following them silently, nodded. He felt that this method was feasible and agreed with him.

Perhaps because they had caused too much of a ruckus before dawn, the villagers finally showed signs of waking up.

In the distance, the villagers gathered in front of Wang Shou's mud hut with hoes in their hands. They were moving toward the forest.

Xu Sen was worried. "It seems like they've been discovered. What should we do?"

"It's only dawn. Will the temple open so early?"

"Who knows? I only know that if you don't prepare your tools, we're going to die here."

Unknowingly, the large forest suddenly quieted down.

The trainees also realized that something was wrong. Each of them took out their life-saving tools at lightning speed and looked around cautiously.

In the intersecting gaps between the leaves, there were layers of ghostly shadows flashing in and out of Bi 'er's sight.

Not far away, another group of trainees was running quickly. Behind them, a large group of cursing villagers had gathered.

Zong Jiu ordered, "Run!"