"But before entering the Abyss, I want to know what happened back then. Red Eyes told me two versions of the story, and I had made some guesses myself.
But thinking about it now, if the story Red Eyes told was wrong to begin with, then my deductions were buildings atop ruins, without any foundation..."
Chen Meiyu was silent for a moment, then stood and walked toward the side door. She lifted the curtain.
The space beyond the curtain was extremely dim. Though it was clearly daytime, the inside seemed impervious to light, carrying an aura of death.
With one hand holding up the curtain, she turned her head to look at me. Half of her delicate face was in the light, while the other half was swallowed by darkness. She no longer looked as gentle as water; instead, there was something eerie about her.
"Would you like to see the ancestral shrine of Chen Family Village? The people who had longed for thousands of years to complete the sacrifice and become immortals..."
Inside the dim ancestral shrine, rows upon rows of spirit tablets stretched into the distance, packed tightly together.
There was no light in the shrine, only several rows of candles.
The flickering candlelight brightened and dimmed, pulling Chen Meiyu's slender shadow into a distorted shape, like a ferocious monster.
She calmly lit several extinguished candles.
"Jiang You, would you like to hear a story?"
Jiang You said, "Many people have asked me that question, but most of the time, I choose to nod. After all, listening is a virtue."
Chen Meiyu smiled, the dancing candlelight shimmering in her eyes.
"Once upon a time, there was a small village nestled against the mountains. The villagers hunted, chopped wood, and grew crops. They were hardworking and brave, using all